Topline
NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock has agreed to an approximately $110 million deal with the National Football League that will allow it to carry a playoff game, according to The Wall Street Journal, marking the first time an NFL playoff game will only be available nationally on a streaming service
Joe Mixon #28 of the Cincinnati Bengals carries the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs during the … [+]
Key Facts
The Peacock playoff game will be featured on Saturday night of Wild Card Weekend, the first weekend of the NFL playoffs.
Some NFL playoff games have been available on streaming services in the past, but the games were always also simulcast on television networks.
The game will come weeks after Peacock has its first-ever exclusive stream of a regular season game in a Dec. 23 matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills in primetime.
As with all games broadcast nationally either through streaming or cable networks, it can still be watched on over-the-air television in the markets of the two teams competing, which will most likely be an NBC affiliate, NBCU executives told the Wall Street Journal.
The deal will only be for one season, according to the Journal.
Key Background: The deal is the NFL’s latest foray into streaming content, and comes just months after YouTube and the league reached a deal for NFL Sunday Ticket—a premium package that allows viewers to watch games not available on their local affiliate stations—to move to the streaming platform.. Regular season NFL games have also been streamed by companies like Amazon, the carrier Thursday Night Football since last season—an arrangement that the company spends about $1 billion per year on, while ESPN+ has carried one international game per season on its platform since 2021. Outside of the deal, Peacock will continue streaming all NBC Sunday Night Football games, including the playoffs, according to a statement by the NFL. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Big Number: 28.4 million. That is the average number of viewers that watched last year’s NFL six wild card games.
Contra: Streaming platforms have struggled to keep up with cable broadcasters. Amazon averaged 9.6 million viewers for its Thursday Night Football broadcasts last season, according to Nielsen data. Meanwhile, broadcasters such as CBS and Fox recorded afternoon broadcasts that garnered 18.5 million and 19.4 million viewers, respectively.
Further Reading:
Peacock to Carry One NFL Playoff Game Exclusively Next Season (The Wall Street Journal)
Amazon And ESPN Lag Behind Networks On NFL Viewership, Ratings Reveal (Forbes)
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