The much-anticipated opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will broadcast live on NBC and stream on Peacock on Friday, July 26. NBCUniversal has announced that Peacock will feature over 5,000 hours of Olympic content.
“This is a really important moment for NBC and also for the streaming service Peacock,” said Eric Deggans, NPR’s first full-time TV critic, told Boston Public Radio on Thursday.
“News broke recently that Peacock lost a significant number of subscribers, presumably because they have raised their prices,” Deggans noted.
He explained that in late April, Peacock revealed a $2 price increase for its new subscribers, effective July 18. Existing subscribers would see the price hike after the Olympics. This marks the second price increase for Peacock in the past year.
Comcast’s second-quarter 2024 earnings report disclosed that Peacock lost approximately 1 million subscribers from April to June.
Deggans believes NBC is taking advantage of their Olympic coverage in an attempt to boost subscriptions.
“They’re hoping that the Olympics will spur a bunch of people to subscribe to Peacock again, because they have a wide array of different coverage that you can watch both on demand and live,” he said.
This includes a commercial-free hour of the opening ceremony, sponsored by six advertisers, a first for NBC. Additionally, Peacock will feature “ Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson,” an eight-episode series where the comedic duo will recap notable moments from the Games.
“These are two guys who don’t know a whole lot about Olympic sports, but they’re very entertaining to hang out with, and they have very down-to-earth observations about what’s going on,” Deggans said.
As someone who isn’t heavily into sports, he believes the comedy special will offer enjoyable and light-hearted commentary on the Olympic events.
“This is going to be a test of Peacock,” Deggans concluded. “Can they revive interest in this streamer at a time when it seems to be on the ropes?”
