Don’t act surprised. Don’t act is if you’re shocked that Peacock — the streaming service from NBCUniversal that’s home to the larger NBC universe, the wildly popular Premier League, and the 2024 Summer Olympics — is increasing its prices just in time for a major sporting event.
Because it’s happening.
Peacock’s two plans will become more expensive for new subscribers on July 18. Existing subscribers will see the increase arrive August 17. That timing is important because it means you can save a couple bucks ahead of the Paris Olympic Games, the opening ceremony of shicj is scheduled for July 26, provided that you’ve subscribed to Peacock ahead of the middle of the month.
Here’s how the pricing breaks down:
- Peacock Premium (with ads): Increasing from $6 a month to $8 a month, or $80 a year.
- Peacock Premium Plus (no ads): Increasing from $12 a month to $14 a month, or $140 a year.
“Clearly, Peacock has been on a great trajectory since our launch four years ago,” Comcast President Michael Cavanagh said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call on April 25. He touted the importance of sports to the service, including more than 5,000 hours of live coverage on the way from Paris this summer. And that’ll be followed by college football, the NFL games on Sunday Night Football, and that league’s first opening night game from Brazil, exclusively on Peacock. And adding to the sports exclusives are major streaming events like Oppenheimer and The Holdovers.
The price increases should not surprise anyone. Peacock has been on the less-expensive side of the ledger since its launch, and another price increase certainly was inevitable. Peacock continues to lose money for owner Comcast, though.
Peacock, which is available on every major connected platform and in a web browser, has 34 million paid subscribers as of March 31, 2024, up from 31 million at the end of 2023, and up 55% compared to the first quarter of 2023.
