• by Wayne Friedman , April 13, 2020

As at-home streaming and traditional viewers continue to rise due to COVID-19, NBCUniversal’s new premium service Peacock rolls out this week with ten major brand launch advertisers in tow.

Five new sponsors have been announced -- Capital One, L’Oreal USA, Molson Coors Beverage Company, Subaru of America, Inc., and Verizon --to total ten overall. Previously, Eli Lilly and Company, Apartments.com, State Farm, Target, and Unilever were disclosed as sponsors.

Financial details have not been disclosed.

So far, NBCU has aired 107 promotional TV commercials for Peacock TV, amassing 138.5 million impressions -- virtually all on the NBC Television Network, with other airings on USA Network, Telemundo and NBCSN, NBCU’s sports network, according to iSpot.tv.

Those messages have run during NFL Football, “The Golden Globe Awards,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Dateline NBC,” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Peacock starts up this Wednesday, April 15, on sister company’s Comcast Infinity and Flex pay TV services at no cost to subscribers. Then it expands on July 15 to Cox Communications cable TV systems -- also at no cost.

NBCU says its advertising load for Peacock comes with just a total of five minutes of TV commercials per hour or less -- among the “lightest” ad loads for a premium streaming service.

Peacock will be part of its One Platform media planning/buying service, NBCU says -- allowing marketers to transact in similar ways to the way digital media platforms operate. The difference, it says, is that the One Platform platform can target audiences either via broad, global reach or a targeted audience.

One Platform was intended to be launched in time for this year’s major TV advertising bazaar -- the TV upfront advertising buying market, which typically starts in June. But now, due to COVID-19, analysts are predicting that could be delayed months, if not longer.  

NBCU says its Peacock Streaming Council, will aid marketers to work with NBCU creators to come up with new commercial innovations.

Peacock offers two products: Peacock Free and Peacock Premium. The free service is ad-supported, and includes 7,500 hours of programming.

Peacock Premium will have two options: Peacock Premium, a $4.99/month ad-supported service offering 15,000 hours of programming; and a second ad-free service, Peacock Premium at $9.99/month. 

The Peacock Premium ad-supported service will be bundled into TV packages of Comcast and Cox cable subscribers at no additional cost to 24 million subscribers.

In four years, NBCU estimates, Peacock will have 30 million to 35 million active accounts. By 2025, Barclays Capital had projected Peacock could amass $2.7 billion in ad revenues and $2.3 billion in subscription revenues.