Peacock TV Raises the Bar for Free Streamers

Assessing NBCUniversal’s new Peacock streaming service after the first day is akin to gauging a marathon runner after the first mile. Everything is fine — a solid start with no stalls or stumbles — but there are many, many miles to go.

Peacock began rolling out Wednesday on Comcast Xfinity Flex devices as a free, ad-supported service for NBC shows (30 Rock, Parks and Recreation), Universal movies (Meet the Parents, Jurassic Park), news, sports, kids and Latinx programming. Peacock will deploy to more than 20 million Xfinity Flex and Xfinity X1 households over the next few weeks and launch nationally July 15 on mobile devices, smart TVs and online.

Comcast internet and TV households get the free tier of 7,500 hours of catalog content plus the premium tier of 7,500 additional hours, next-day episodes of NBC shows, and exclusive Peacock originals at no charge and can upgrade to ad-free for $5 a month. Starting July 15, everyone else will get the free, ad-supported tier and can upgrade to premium for $5 a month or to both premium and ad-free for $10 a month.

Peacock will have a handful of originals ready this year including a big-budget adaptation of Brave New World, reboots of Saved By the Bell and Punky Brewster, and a Psych spinoff movie called Psych 2: Lassie Come Home. Aside from those, though, the premium tier will be thin until 2021.

“The majority of our original productions, like virtually all products across the world, have been paused,” Peacock chief Matt Strauss said Tuesday in a call with reporters. “For a new service like Peacock, this will materially limit our originals slate at launch and in 2020. The Tokyo Olympics, which we had aligned with our national launch to maximize awareness, has also obviously been delayed.”

Peacock is a nice little bonus — a free, ad-supported service with a better catalog than Pluto TV, IMDb TV, Roku Channel or Tubi — that will get better over time as NBCUniversal franchise shows return from Netflix (The Office) and Hulu (Top Chef). The premium tier will be an even nicer free bonus for Comcast subscribers and only $5 for everyone else.

Content Matters More Than Interface

Streamers are increasingly — and unnecessarily — distinguishing themselves on user experience. Hulu’s interface is more oriented toward clicking up and down vs. most other streamers organizing into rows. Quibi edits its shows for both vertical and horizontal viewing. HBO Max will have celebrity recommendations and interface whirligigs.

Peacock’s interface is built around browsing content in three ways:

• Browse. You’ll recognize the traditional layout of content tiles in horizontal rows because it’s the same basic interface you see on Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Comcast’s own Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex. It’s intuitive. It works. It’s the default interface that you’ll likely wind up using.
• Channels. Peacock has reinterpreted the endless scroll of channels from your cable guide and Pluto TV as this livestream of mostly not-actually-live content programmed into channels like “SNL Vault,” “Peacock Reality” and a few actual live feeds like NBC News Now and Sky News.
• Trending. This mode allows you to shuffle through short clips from categories like “Today’s Moments,” “Top Headlines” and “Peacock Rewind” that give you something quick and easy to watch.

Peacock describes this setup as “three streaming products in one,” but I’ll mainly use Browse. I’ll use Channels for news, but the not-actually-live channels could be improved by starting at the beginning of the episode instead of wherever the show happens to be when you click to that channel. (Why import the worst feature of cable?)

I’ll likely never use Trending. Peacock actually starts the service on Trending and intends it as a mechanism to get you watching something buzzy within seconds of launching the app. If you don’t like Netflix auto-playing a trailer when you click onto a tile — and I certainly do not — then you’re not going to like Peacock’s Trending section. I’d rather see Trending as a row in Browse.

Also, I watch shows from a lot of different services, and I don’t want “an experience.” I want a row of stuff I’m already watching and a few more rows with other stuff I’ll probably like. Ideally, I want Peacock’s shows to be aggregated with shows on the other services I subscribe to, and that’s already beginning to happen. The “Free to Me” row on my Xfinity Flex device already includes Psych, Law & Order: SVU and Shrek.

The Catalog Will Keep Improving

What distinguishes the major streamers — Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, CBS All Access, Disney+, Apple TV+, Peacock and soon HBO Max — is less their interfaces and more their actual content. It’s why Netflix will spend $17 billion this year on content. It’s why ViacomCBS is revamping CBS All Access with a much bigger catalog. And, over time, it’s why Peacock will be one of the winners in the Streaming Wars.

As NBCUniversal unwinds many of its licensing deals with Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video, Peacock’s catalog will swell. Beginning in early 2021, Peacock will be the exclusive streaming home for The Office. The full catalogs of NBC shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine (currently on Hulu) and The Good Place (currently on Netflix) will likely end up on Peacock.

Next-day episodes of NBC, ABC and FOX shows have always been a big draw for Hulu, and Peacock’s premium tier is doing the same with Chicago Fire, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and other NBC shows. As cable declines, Peacock and other streamers are an increasingly valuable second window for broadcast and cable shows.

NBCUniversal is one of the world’s biggest movie and TV studios. As the traditional cable bundle continues to decline, more of the movies and TV shows you want to watch will be free, ad-supported and streaming on Peacock.

Scott Porch writes about the TV business for Decider and is a contributing writer for The Daily Beast. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.