How Peacock's Summer Surge Impacted Streaming

Instagram may be trading in the square profile grid for a vertical rectangle view after some users spotted some changes on the platform. Instagram confirmed it’s testing a new profile grid, but I won’t hold my breath since I still don’t have access to Notes or the new 20-slide carousel options — sad trombone.

A peek into today’s edition:

Peacock‘s rise as a tech brand
JBL‘s new earbuds have new tech
Instagram debuts songs on profiles

Peacock‘s position in the streaming race has skyrocketed this summer, mainly due to weekslong success with Season 6 of Love Island USA and the 2024 Summer Olympics. Still, Peacock has been operating in a lane of its own, and above all, it’s been excelling as a tech company by getting a lot of things right that other streaming platforms haven’t been able to succeed at yet.

Here’s a snapshot of Peacock’s rise and recent success.

Peacock’s Progression

Peacock TV, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal Media Group, launched its video streaming service on July 15, 2020, after Apple TV+ and Disney+ launched in November 2019 and HBO Max’s launch in May 2020. The streamer’s initial strategy was to appeal to a broad audience by loading its content library with classic NBCU shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation and popular movie franchises like Jurassic Park and The Fast and the Furious. Premier League soccer was the primary live sports draw for early subscribers, while late-night show watchers were reeled in by next-day access to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers. The platform also has the right to stream content from Bravo’s network.

Peacock has made an effort to produce original content with new shows like The Traitors, Bel-Air, Apples Never Fall, and Poker Face, quickly garnering a loyal audience. Still, many of the streamer’s early successful Peacock Originals have been canceled.

So, how did Peacock catch momentum? The platform quickly found its streaming niche: reality TV and live sports entertainment. Peacock’s most significant get is a partnership with WWE for original content, access to WWE Network content, and exclusive streaming rights to premium live events, including WrestleMania and Royal Rumble. While this deal lasts through 2026, Netflix inked a deal to bring Raw to its platform in January 2025, meaning Peacock’s partnership with the wrestling empire may be in trouble.

Still, the streamer’s subscriber count is on a positive incline as it lines up new content opportunities. In the summer of 2023, Peacock had approximately 24 million paid subscribers. As of August 2024, the streamer has 33 million subscribers and is expected to attract 76 million by the end of the year. While impressive, these subscriber numbers are still far off from the top streamers – Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video – all of which have surpassed 200 million global subscribers.

The 2024 Summer Olympics had much to do with Peacock’s uptick in subscribers this summer, giving the platform opportunities to flex its muscles with new content. The streamer added roughly 2.8 million new subscribers the week the Olympics kicked off. From new AI features through a partnership with NBCUniversal and Google to AI-powered personalized daily Olympics recaps and live watch parties in Paris with Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper, Peacock provided new content verticals to provide watchers with that extra behind-the-scenes feel of major events.

Ahead of the Olympics, Peacock attracted a lot of attention around the most recent season of Love Island USA, a moment I don’t even think the streamer was prepared for.

**The Love Island Lore**

If you’ve seen my Thread account, you know I’m a die-hard Love Island fan. Writing this newsletter literally feels like my Super Bowl right now. As someone who has watched multiple seasons of Love Island‘s UK and USA series, I find it so cool to see the unprecedented success of Season 6 of Love Island USA. The franchise, which also has an Australia spinoff, saw its highest streaming viewership ever in the week leading up to the Season 6 finale of Love Island USA. Nielsen reported that the USA show’s watchers are mainly 18- to 34-year-olds, a group that helped boost Peackock’s monthly usage by 33% in July. This was the largest usage jump per month that Nielsen has reported for a streaming platform in The Gauge.

So many things made Season 6 of Love Island USA successful, most notably, new episodes almost every day, an entertaining cast, an aftershow dubbed Love Island: Aftersun, solid social media engagement, dramatic moments, enhanced production value, and most of all, the first reunion in Love Island franchise history. Season 6 attracted a loyal audience in ways no other season of the USA version had the power to do. One aspect of the season that excelled was the friendship formed between Leah Kateb, Serena Page, and JaNa Craig, a trio better known as PPG. The world fell in love with seeing the women support each other through their rights, wrongs, heartbreaks, and love interests.

I think this season will be studied for years to come, especially with the success of cast members following the season’s conclusion. Season 6 favorite Kateb, whose Instagram following grew from around 12,000 to over 3 million during her time in the villa, recently signed with UTA for representation. Winners Page and Kordell Beckam, Odell Beckam Jr.’s brother, have been doing more than racking up social media followers; they’ve been dropping new content and inking brand deals. Beckham secured a partnership with Cheez-It while Page stepped into the Beyoncé-owned CÉCRED Salon for an exclusive interview and hair makeover. The couple also recently appeared in sponsored content with IHG Hotels and Resorts at the company’s US Open pop-up. The dynamic cast has appeared on countless podcasts and shows, including Call Her Daddy, Hot Ones, Baby, This is Keke Palmer, Chicks in the Office, The Viall Files, and many others.

One thing Peacock got right that other streamers haven’t nailed yet is the reunion aspect of a reality TV dating show. We will never forget the disaster of a Love is Blind Season 4 reunion that Netflix attempted in April 2023. Maybe fans don’t need a live reunion; truly, we just want more content of our faves. Peacock nailed this when it flew 25 cast members from the season to New York, filmed a reunion at Chelsea Piers, and uploaded it on its platform within a week. Now, that’s how you do it.

I predict we’ll continue to see an uptick in Peacock subscribers, especially around the NFL season since it will be the exclusive streamer of the league’s season opener in Brazil with an Eagles-Packers matchup on Sept. 6. This will be the NFL’s first Friday game on opening weekend in over 50 years, and once again, another exclusive opportunity for Peacock to reel in subscribers as it will stream more NFL games throughout the season.

Today, I’m introducing a new section in the newsletter called Tech Byte, where I share a quick note on new gadgets, collabs, historical anniversaries, random facts, and more about tech.

This week, JBL introduced the JBL Tour PRO 3 wireless earbuds. Unlike typical earbuds, the device’s smart charging case also operates as a wireless audio transmitter. For example, if you’re like me and can’t stand the cheap wired earbuds airlines give you, you could plug the smart charging case into the USB or analog outlet to transmit the audio to your earbuds.

Instagram is taking a page out of Myspace’s book. The platform debuted a new music feature that lets you add a song to your profile. Sabrina Carpenter used the feature to drop an exclusive teaser of her new song, “Taste,” on Thursday ahead of the drop of her Short n’ Sweet album on Friday. IG was the only place the teaser was published, signaling the platform’s plans to do more with music.
As part of a new bill in the Golden State, Google agreed to invest $250 million over five years in California to fund journalism initiatives and a new AI research and accelerator program designed to support journalists. This bill overtakes a different one that would have forced tech companies to pay news outlets to distribute their content. Needless to say, journalists don’t seem too happy about this deal.
Elsewhere, Condé Nast inked a multi-year deal with OpenAI, giving the AI company rights to use and train its platform on content from the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, WIRED, Vogue, and other outlets. Condé Nast joins a growing list of media empires, including The Atlantic and Axel Springer, that have signed similar deals with the AI leader.
Cristiano Ronaldo launched his YouTube channel on Wednesday, setting a record by becoming the fastest person to reach 1 million subscribers, which only took 90 minutes. The ‘UR Cristiano’ channel has since surpassed 35 million subscribers (as of Friday afternoon), and the star has already uploaded 19 videos and YouTube Shorts.
Renowned podcaster Alex Cooper inked a multi-year licensing deal worth more than $100 million to take her famous Call Her Daddy podcast and other shows from The Unwell Network to SiriusXM. Cooper first signed a $60 million, three-year deal with Spotify in 2021. For worried Spotify listeners, Call Her Daddy will still be streamed on the platform.
Playground Productions confirmed via a new trailer that it’s bringing back the Backyard Sports video game franchise nearly a decade after the last mobile game was released. The Athletic reported that the gaming series is slated to relaunch in the coming months.
Tennis icon Novak Djokovic took to X to call for more technological advances across the sport, like video replay that fans, umpires, other off-court officials, and players can see in real-time after a recent controversy at the Cincinnati Open. Djokovic said, “It’s embarrassing we don’t have video replay” in professional tennis or rules that give chair umpires the authority to change calls after video replays.

I don’t think I ever expected to see this news on my bingo card, but Chick-fil-A is developing a streaming service that’ll reportedly produce and stream family-friendly shows and unscripted content. I bet this platform won’t fully come to fruition or attract a loyal audience.