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Peacock is the most recent streaming platform to see a shockingly huge price increase (compared to their previous rates), and the first for the NBCUniversal service since its inception in summer 2020. Previously, the pricing of the ad-free premium streaming package Paramount+ increased from $9.99 per month to $11.99 for Paramount+ with Showtime. In addition, Warner Bros. Discovery raised the monthly price of Max to $15.99 per month. This came after providers like Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV+, and Amazon’s Prime Video raised their monthly fees.
How much will Peacock charge monthly now?
NBCUniversal announced today that it will be raising the prices of its Peacock streaming service on August 17. The price of the Premium plan, which includes ads, will increase by $1 to $5.99 per month. The price of the Premium Plus plan, which offers a mostly ad-free experience, will increase by $2 to $11.99 per month. These new prices will affect new users as well and the company noted that the price change will allow “Peacock to continue to invest in the best user experience and the highest-quality content while remaining competitive in the marketplace.”
Why did NBCUniversal bring up the price so much?
The price increase comes after Peacock’s subscriber counts reached nearly 22 million in the first three months of 2023, up 60% year on year. The studio noted that Peacock has added over 80,000 hours of content since it first launched, including exclusive movies from Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, new NBC and Bravo episodes launching the day after they air on linear channels, streaming channels from Hallmark and Reelz, and daily morning news from CNBC and MSNBC.
In spite of the growing subscribers and the media supplied, NBCUniversal has seen Peacock’s start-up losses persist, despite a recent industrywide focus on efforts to increase profitability. Even with the price raise, NBCUniversal predicts that Peacock would incur peak losses of around $3 billion in 2023 as the Comcast subsidiary converts to streaming.