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Time of possession is one of the most important stats in the NFL, and it’s pretty important for streaming services, too.
Following Peacock’s recent record-breaking streaming TV audience for the NFL Wild Card matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs, one of the big questions was whether the additional audience would stick around. And during a fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast, addressed it.
The game, which NBCUniversal announced averaged 23 million viewers, was the most-streamed live event in U.S. history, with reports saying it brought in 2.8 million subscribers for the streaming service.
Though the Comcast president didn’t confirm how many subscribers came from the exclusive Wild Card game stream, he said an increase was expected and the goal is to reduce churn.
“We’re focused now on retention of the subs that came in right around the game,” Cavanagh said. “What’s important is both the subs that came in during the game and the engagement of the people that were already on the platform, so engagement and retention is really going to be focused on what’s coming next.”
Cavanagh mentioned Peacock’s upcoming highlights, including Oppenheimer coming to the platform on Feb. 16, the Summer Olympics on the way this year and Peacock originals making their way back to the streamer now that the industry is post-Hollywood strikes.
“At the scale we’ve gotten to, what’s important is to keep people engaged with the platform and all the content that’s there, not the Wild Card game unto itself,” Cavanagh said. “So the job always was to get more people in the door, get everybody that’s already in the door to reengage with the platform around that game, and then try to continue to drive engagement afterward.”
According to Cavanagh, the plan for increased engagement has worked so far, with the platform seeing “record levels” of hours viewed in the days after the Peacock NFL Wild Card game. The Comcast president credited the launches of Ted, which has become the most-watched original series on the platform in its first seven days, and Season 2 of Traitors, Peacock’s biggest original reality series debut in its first four days.
During the call, the company announced that Peacock has grown to reach 31 million paid subscribers, which adds up to around 3 million additions in the fourth quarter.
