NBCUniversal’s high-stakes decision to exclusively air the NFL’s AFC Wild Card playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs on its streaming service Peacock drove record signups to the platform, a digital analytics firm said Wednesday.
In the three days leading up to the January 13 kickoff in Kansas City, Peacock saw 2.8 million sign-ups, Antenna reported on Wednesday, citing preliminary data.
The event marked “the single biggest subscriber acquisition moment ever measured” by the company, it said, driving more sign-ups to the streaming service in a three-day period than the 2019 launch of Disney+ and previous Super Bowls that were made available on subscription video platforms, though none were exclusives.
While NBCUniversal has not revealed the number of new sign ups to its streaming service from the NFL game, the data offers new insight into the media giant’s decision to air the game exclusively on the platform, which sparked controversy among fans over its required $5.99 a month subscription. Prior to the game, Peacock reached roughly 30 million subscribers, a significantly smaller number than CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery’s 95 million Max subscribers and Netflix’s 260 million global subscribers.
CNN previously reported that the Dolphins-Chiefs game, the first NFL playoff match to ever be exclusively available on a subscription streaming service, shattered prior ratings and internet usage records, garnering an average of 23 million viewers and consuming 30% of internet traffic at the time.
Though it remains unclear just how many of the 2.8 million new subscribers will retain their Peacock service beyond the playoff game, the announcement comes as other streamers also appear to be getting serious about sports.
Netflix on Tuesday announced it will stream WWE’s “Raw” beginning in 2025, the company’s biggest foray yet into live sports. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Video last week announced it will become the streaming home of Bally Sports after it acquired a minority stake in Diamond Sports Group.
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