"Peacock subscribers will see ads immediately upon opening the streaming app or website next year. It's a bold new strategy for attracting advertisers-something that's been increasingly important to subscription-based streaming services-but it also risks alienating viewers. As reported by Variety, the new type of ads will display on the profile selection page that shows when a subscriber launches Peacock. Starting next year, instead of the profile page just showing your different Peacock profiles, most of the page will be dominated by an advertorial image."
"To avoid seeing what NBCUniversal is calling "Arrival Ads" every time you open Peacock, you need to subscribe to Peacock's most expensive plan, which is ad-free and starts at $17 per month (Peacock's ad-based plans start at $8/month.) NBCUniversal's announcement claims that Peacock will be the first streaming service to implement this type of ad. But that may not be the brag the entertainment giant thinks it is, as subscribers may quickly find the startup ads disruptive."
"Peacock and many other streaming services have struggled with profitability after spending years focusing on pricey content production and licensing to attract subscribers. For its part, Peacock has 41 million subscribers and isn't profitable. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, shared in October, NBCUniversal parent company Comcast reported that the service lost $217 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, compared to losing $436 million in the same quarter in 2024."
Peacock will place large "Arrival Ads" on the profile selection page starting next year, pushing profile circles to a narrow left column. Subscribers can avoid these startup ads only by subscribing to the ad-free tier that starts at $17 per month; ad-supported plans begin at $8 per month. The new ad placement aims to boost advertiser appeal as streaming services seek revenue beyond subscriptions. Peacock has 41 million subscribers and is not profitable, losing $217 million in the most recent quarter versus $436 million in the same quarter last year. Subscriber growth has been stagnant since Q1.
Read at Ars Technica
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]