Peacock will no longer offer its free tier to new customers, a spokesperson for NBCUniversal confirmed to TechCrunch on Tuesday. The company says it is focusing on its premium offering and doing so will allow the streaming service to remain competitive in the market. The change was first reported by Streamable.
The free tier is still available to users who are already on a plan, the spokesperson said in an email. Also, users who cancel their paid subscription will be automatically downgraded to the free tier. Peacock has offered a free tier since its launch in 2020, giving users restricted access to the streaming service’s content catalog. The tier included a limited amount of content compared to the paid tiers.
New customers will now have to choose between Peacock’s Premium or Premium Plus tiers. The ad-supported premium tier costs $4.99 per month and includes a full content library, live sports, and NBC and Bravo programs as they air on TV. The Premium Plus tier costs $9.99 per month and offers an ad-free experience, offline viewing support and a live stream of your local NBC channel.
Peacock launched at the same time as Disney+, HBO Max and Apple TV+ but was the only one to offer a free tier. Now the focus of the company is on. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that Peacock is now focusing on its premium offering, noting that paid subscriptions are more reflective of its brand.
The move comes as Peacock recently reported its best quarterly results since its launch. The streaming service has added 5 million paying subscribers to it Fourth quarter of 2022, bringing the total to 20 million from more than 15 million subscribers in the previous quarter. The increase in paid subscribers was mainly due to the FIFA World Cup, which was streamed in Spanish on Peacock Premium and Telemundo.
