NBCU’s Peacock, the new streaming service that features tons of content from NBC and other Comcast companies, just debuted last week. That means it’s time break down the service’s first official numbers and endlessly speculate about its future!
In its first six days, Peacock was downloaded some 1.5 million times. On its premiere date, Peacock was number one on the iPhone App Store. It was also number one on iPad. Since July 17, the app has been number two on the Google Play Store and remains number one among non-game apps.
Not bad right? No, not too bad. By comparison, that’s 25% more than Quibi’s initial draw of 1.2 million downloads in its first six days. It pales in comparison to the 13 million downloads that Disney+ garnered, though. But, come on, no one is going to beat Disney+. That app had a launch unlike anything else we have seen in our life times.
Peacock has one major thing currently holding it back: it is still not available on Amazon Fire TV or Roku, two of the largest TV platforms in America. If Peacock was downloadable on both Fire TV and Roku products, you can bet that 1.5 million marker would be much higher. The cancelation of the Olympics also doesn’t help Peacock either because NBC planned lots of advertising for the streamer during the big games.
The real question is about Peacock’s staying power. Obviously it has tons and tons of content to comb through but will it bring in more viewers and keep them engaged? Since launch, Peacock has fallen to number 26 on the iPhone App Store, which is definitely a substantial fall but nothing like the fate of Quibi, which dropped out of the top 50 after its first week. So there has definitely been a bit of a slide but it’s nothing too worrying. Still, NBCUniversal better make with some more tantalizing content if they want people to keep downloading Peacock. Brave New World alone won’t keep people installing the app.
What do you think, does Peacock have what it takes to continue to compete with the big boys like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and others? Or is this first promising week just a blip on the radar before it fades into the annals of the App Store like Quibi and Cackle before it? Personally I think that Peacock will be around for awhile. There are more interesting productions coming from the service (including that new Saved by the Bell reboot that I am morbidly curious about) and a huge back catalogue of shows and movies to watch. Don’t forget that the new streaming home of The Office will be Peacock starting in early 2021.
Don’t write Peacock off yet. It may not be setting the world on fire but it has a promising future ahead.