Peacock made audience gains as the streaming space gets more crowded.

Among major streaming video platforms, Peacock is the one where US subscribers are most likely to have the ad-supported version. Just 20% of Peacock subscribers shell out for the ad-free tier.

On today's episode, we discuss how close Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Peacock are to catching up with Netflix. "In Other News," we talk about the biggest takeaways from this year's upfronts and NewFronts events and how much waste is taking place in linear TV ads. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Ross Benes.

Streamers poised to take greater share in US upfront market: Advertising dollars will flow to services such as Hulu, Peacock, Roku, and YouTube TV.

Close to 8 in 10 branding professionals plan on allocating upfront spending to Hulu, per a survey from iSpot.tv. Peacock and YouTube TV are also major upfront spend magnets with 52% and 49% of branding professionals dishing ad dollars to those platforms, respectively.

This year, Peacock will hit 64.3 million US viewers, up 25.0% from 51.5 million the year before. The Comcast-owned streaming platform will continue to grow as it rivals established competitors.

On today's episode, we discuss why Disney+ subscriber growth has slammed into a wall and how HBO Max might make its offering even more competitive. We then talk about whether Roku's recent slowdown is temporary or something more systemic, and if Peacock will likely move up—or down—Americans' video streaming priorities list. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Ross Benes.

Peacock’s role: Peacock has been a weak spot for NBCU since its launch. The service frequently lags far behind its competitors, and its losses totaled $456 million, per NBCU’s most recent quarterly earnings. But the service is also beginning to turn a corner. Aside from being a testing ground for new ad solutions, Peacock is finally finding its stride with original content.

It estimated that 8% of HBO Max, 59% of Hulu, 63% of Paramount+, and 72% of Peacock subscribers used ad-supported tiers. Hub Research’s data is survey-based, while Antenna relies on consumers’ transaction data—but they came to similar conclusions.

NBCUniversal announced that Peacock had secured $500 million in upfront commitments. Roku doubled its upfront commitments from 2020. Vizio secured $100 million in upfront commitments. In iSpot’s study, nearly four-fifths of respondents planned to allocate upfront dollars toward Hulu. About half planned to spend with Peacock, Roku, and YouTube TV.

NCBUniversal recently began rebroadcasting news shows on Peacock (which offers free, ad-supported access unlike CNN+), and Fox Nation’s right-leaning news coverage helps it reach a specific target audience, much like its network counterpart. On top of its vague target audience and executive departures, CNN+ is also dealing with distribution hurdles.

On today's episode, we discuss how a Netflix tier with ads could affect the company, its users, and advertisers, what price point it may come in at, how many users will switch over, and what advertisers should make of this potential inventory. "In Other News," we talk about how much overlay ads move the needle and Peacock's new In-Scene Ads. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Paul Verna and Ross Benes.

Following the path NBCUniversal set when its Peacock service absorbed the WWE Network, companies operating numerous streaming services will combine their audiences to simplify the user experience and placate advertisers. Elsewhere in the landscape, look for Paramount+ and Showtime to become a single app or for HBO Max and Discovery+ to combine forces following the merger of their parent companies.

Additionally, most streaming happens on services without ads, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, as well as on the ad-free tiers of Hulu, HBO Max, and Peacock. There is a correlation where the younger a person is, the more likely they are to misjudge the amount of advertising on TV versus streaming platforms.

In July, Comcast announced that, beginning in 2022, films from its movie studio Universal Pictures would make their streaming debut on NBCU’s Peacock. The films will exclusively run on Peacock for four months. After four months have lapsed, Universal Pictures can license its movies to other streaming services.

., NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Fox’s Tubi, ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV and Paramount+, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, and Discovery’s Discovery+). Who Are the Players? Competition among CTV device makers is fierce. Roku and Amazon Fire TV have built large and growing ad businesses through their streaming sticks and CTV operating systems (OSs).

The ad-supported model is not new: Hulu has proven its potential with long-standing ad-supported viewing channels, and less popular services like Peacock have relied on it as well. Warner Bros. Discovery’s upcoming streaming rebrand could also feature ad-supported channels. Why ads, why now?

Netflix is practically synonymous with video streaming in the US, with 76% of US teens and adults surveyed using the platform. Amazon Prime Video is the next most popular service, used by 64%, while Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max round out the top five.

Unlike during the Summer Olympics, the entirety of the upcoming Winter Games will be available to premium-tier Peacock subscribers. While this move provides clarity for viewers and could drive new subscriptions, advertisers are concerned that it will pull already-limited viewers away from the platform’s ad-supported tier.