As Peacock’s Olympic coverage debuts a year later than originally scheduled, Parrot Analytics has analyzed its performance in the US streaming market, revealing relatively strong demand for the Peacock catalog, but tepid demand for Peacock Originals.
Peacock’s US share of demand for on-platform content in Q2 2021 was 8.4% - putting it in fifth place overall, just above Paramount+ (7.9%) and slightly behind HBO Max (9.8%). The streamer is successfully leveraging its large library of legacy content and shows still airing on linear TV.
However, highly in-demand exclusive content, particularly platform originals, are generally what drive new subscribers to sign up for a service. Here Peacock has yet to take off, accounting for just 1.4% of the US digital original demand share in Q2 2021.
US SVOD share of on platform content
- Peacock could be playing a dangerous game by relying too heavily on its large library of non-exclusive content.
- However, Peacock’s exclusive rights to Olympics coverage could be its golden ticket.
- Once new subscribers are drawn in by the Olympics they will find a robust catalog of highly in-demand library content to keep them around.
Top shows available on Peacock
- Looking at the most in-demand series that were available on Peacock in the past quarter it is clear that this platform’s strength comes from its linear original offerings, mostly former and current NBC shows.
- In particular, Saturday Night Live was in a league of its own with 56x the average series demand.
- The second most in-demand show available on Peacock this quarter was The Voice, far behind SNL, but still generating 30x the demand of the average series.
Top Peacock originals
- The most in-demand original from Peacock in Q2 2021 was Curious George, averaging 9.9x the average series demand for the quarter.
- Peacock’s originals are moving in the right direction - Girls5eva and Rutherford Falls both reached post-release demand peaks higher than any other Peacock original so far this year when they dropped earlier in Q2.
- However, original content from this platform still has yet to find success comparable to other streamers.
Top originals vs other platforms
- Comparing Peacock’s original content to the top original series from other streamers it is clear that the platform has yet to create a tentpole original that captures as much audience attention as its competitors’ top series.
- Peacock’s top two originals, Curious George (9.9x) and Rutherford Falls (8.3x), had less demand this quarter than even the top original from the niche streamer Shudder - Creepshow with 10.5x.
