NBCUniversal CEO Says Peacock Is the ‘Opposite of Quibi’

NBCUniversal revealed Thursday that its new streaming service Peacock is nearing 22 million signups up to now after launching nationwide in July. CEO Jeff Shell attributes this development to having “stuff people want to watch,” making the ad-supported platform “kind of the opposite of Quibi,” which just lately introduced it could be shutting down six months after going stay.

“The content that’s resonating, it really is interesting. It’s kind of across the board,” Shell stated on the Q3 earnings name for NBCUniversal dad or mum Comcast Thursday, when an analyst requested which of Peacock’s choices have taken off with prospects. “Obviously, Premier League soccer has been an interesting driver for us. Some of our topical stuff, some of our NBC News product has been resonating. Brian mentioned some of the shows that we’re able to get from other people that they didn’t necessarily discover on other platforms, like ‘Yellowstone’ and recently ‘Mr. Mercedes,’ are resonating. But in general, if you look at the usage, the fact that we have such a deep library of familiar stuff, it’s kind of the opposite of Quibi. We have stuff people want to watch. They want to re-watch ’30 Rock,’ they want to watch Dick Wolf’s library. It’s really kind of across the board and really broad-based.”

Shell additionally reminded listeners on the decision that the perfect is but to come back for Peacock, which can grow to be the unique residence of “The Office” in January subsequent yr, when it’s pulled off Netflix.

“With most of our programming strength coming in future quarters, we’re really very optimistic. We don’t even get ‘The Office,’ which is still amongst Netflix’s top shows, until January exclusively. And with the Olympics behind it, in fact, two Olympics behind it, to add to our sports strength, we’re very, very, very optimistic on how the content is resonating.”

While Peacock continues to be not obtainable on Amazon Fire TV units, NBCUniversal lastly struck a carriage cope with Roku in September and Shell says the consequences of that pact are “just kicking in.”

“So we have lots of growth coming amongst Roku costumers going forward because we’re just seeing the very beginnings of that effect on us.”

Comcast reported its third-quarter 2020 earnings outcomes forward of Thursday’s name. You can learn extra about that right here.