Unfortunatly the playoff game on Peacock was a success for NBC

[George Cantstandya]

There is more to the picture than just the viewership of one game for Peacock.  They paid an additional 110 million to the NFL for what was also a giant advertisement for their streaming platform.  So NBC made an additional $6 per however many new and returning subscribers they earned.  Now they also earn that amount times how many ever people don't cancel before next month and for however long those people maintain their subscription.  

I've seen articles claiming as high as 42% of people forget about such subscriptions and continue to pay even when they no longer use them.  That seems high to me but it was according to a survey conducted last year.   So that is even more money for NBC between the initial sign up, the new customers that keep the service because they will use it and the people who are careless and let the subscription renew even though they don't use it. 

I have no doubt that a game that was predicted to be a good one had much less viewers than if it was over the air. I refused to pay and watch it myself. But I don't see how the NFL lost money as they already got paid by NBC not only for their standard 2 billion dollar season rights but an additional 110 million for that game.  Also don't forget NBC earned money from already sold advertisement space for the game.  If anything lower numbers may result in less advertisement revenue next year but the money was already generated this year.

So there are certainly various ways to look at it.  In my opinion it seems that NBC succeeded in their goal to not only gain new subscribers who may carry recurring subscriptions but also get their streaming platform talked about on a massive scale.  How much they lost or profited from it I guess we may not know until maybe a quarterly shareholder report is made.

Also we have to keep in mind that this was a first for a playoff game and it set a streaming record.  That's the kind of thing NBC and the other networks will see and say, "Okay how can we do it bigger and better next year."   So unfortunately I think we are just going to see more and more of this. Hell, I'd miss most Thursday Night Football if I wasn't a member of Prime. But I'm only a member of Prime because of how much I shop there so the quick and free shipping is worth it for me. I'd probably not sign up just to get the games. In fact if they offered a cheaper Prime plan that excluded their digital offerings, depending on how much of a discount, I'd probably take it. Even more so now that they are adding advertisements to their Prime Video unless you pay even more.