Basketball legend Steph Curry wasn’t just busy winning an Olympic gold medal in Paris; he also had his steadily popular comedy show, ‘Mr. Throwback,’ gaining traction on Peacock. The streaming giant sees the recent Olympics as an opportune time to launch new and returning series, and Curry’s show is already enjoying this ripple effect. Stream analysis reveals that about 77% of ‘Mr. Throwback’ viewers had tuned into Olympics basketball matches, suggesting that the show’s promotional slots during the games were effective. ‘The Olympics provide an incredible opportunity to attract a sizeable audience and introduce them to the broad offering of Peacock, not just sports, but also entertainment,’ remarks Shannon Willett, Peacock’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Peacock’s aforementioned strategy wasn’t a last-minute thought. The platform kicked off early with Roland Emmerich’s gladiatorial drama, ‘Those About to Die,’ launched on July 18, just before the opening of the Games. As the Olympics got underway, ‘Die’ began to rapidly gather viewers. A comprehensive marketing campaign tied to the Olympics significantly helped this increase, notes Willett. ‘Gladiator sports closely resemble the essence of original Olympic sports, which explains its popularity during the Games season.’
Insightful data analysis revealed that approximately 60% of ‘Those About to Die’ viewers had also watched the Olympics. Similarly, 16% to 18% of Olympics viewers tuning into sports like wrestling or boxing seamlessly transitioned to ‘Those About to Die.’ ‘There’s an apparent overlap in sports viewing preferences, especially those that align closely with the series’ theme,’ Willett observes.
The streaming giant also cleverly utilized the July 26th opening ceremony to direct viewers towards ‘Kung Fu Panda 4,’ added to Peacock’s lineup a month prior. ‘We wanted to bank on the inclusive, family-focused moment of the opening ceremony to introduce big entertainment content to our viewers,’ Willett explains. ‘Our task is to understand our audience, their interests, and present them with tailored content that they would enjoy.’
The importance of data can be seen in how Peacock adapted its offerings during the Olympics. According to Antenna, a subscription-tracking service, Peacock gained nearly 2.8 million new subscribers during the Olympics’ first week. This fresh wave of audience members gave Willett’s team an expansive base to target with Peacock’s regular series.
Peacock’s approach to leveraging the Olympics to endorse its entertainment content was based on previous successful strategy. Earlier in the year, Peacock earned substantial visibility when it exclusively hosted an NFL wildcard game, resulting in an audience of nearly 28 million—the most significant live-streamed event in U.S. history. Capitalizing on this mass influx of viewers, Peacock promptly released the comedy ‘Ted’ and reinforced the reach of ‘The Traitors,’ which had just premiered its second season.
Reflecting on the strategy, Willett shares, ‘The day after the wildcard game saw the highest on-demand entertainment content viewing in our platform’s history.’ She emphasizes the importance of curating the right content for the right audience at the right time. ‘Many Olympic viewers are coming to Peacock for the first time, and they might not be aware of our extensive scaling content. The Olympics provide an incredible platform for us to showcase our content and hopefully retain these viewers post-Olympics.’
In addition to ‘Those About to Die’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda 4,’ viewers showed a strong inclination towards ‘Love Island’ and ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ during the Olympic period. Looking forward, the launch of ‘Mr. Throwback’ and other anticipated releases were extensively promoted during the Olympics. These included the Season 3 drop of ‘Bel-Air,’ Kevin Hart and Taraji P. Henson’s new series ‘Fight Night,’ and the Eddie Redmayne-led ‘Day of the Jackal.’
For Carla Banks-Waddles, the showrunner for ‘Bel-Air,’ the timing of the Olympic coverage could not have been better. With Hollywood strikes bringing a year-and-a-half hiatus to ‘Bel-Air,’ the promotional spots during the Olympics, along with images of star Jabari Banks present at Paris, significantly boosted the show’s recognition.
Thematically aligning the series with highly-viewed events, one of ‘Bel-Air’’s characters storyline focuses on swimming. As a result, Banks-Waddles incorporated an Olympic subplot into the season that communicated perfectly with the summer setting. ‘The amount of support and marketing promotion on offer during the Olympics gave us confidence in the potential reception and performance of our show,’ she affirms.