Commentary Major Sports Pulls Big Streaming Signups: Can Other Genres Do That?

 

Commentary

Major Sports Pulls Big Streaming Signups: Can Other Genres Do That?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 7 hours ago

We now know what drives huge, short-term subscription sign-ups that premium streaming platforms continue to seek: Special one-time sports events that come around perhaps once a year -- or once every four years.

NBCU's Peacock posted strong results for the Paris Olympics, adding 2.8 million subscription signups over a seven-day period of the two-week event.

Better still, an AFC Wild Card playoff football game rocketed up with three million new subscribers in January over a three-day weekend period. It was the first ever exclusive NFL playoff game to appear on a premium streaming service. 

Back then, it was the biggest measured streaming signup moment, according to Antenna -- a research company covering the subscription marketplace.

Peacock had enormous growth compared to its competitors. It commanded a 16% share of all premium streaming additions over the prior 12 months.

In July 2024, Peacock drew 29% share of all gross additions in the category.

The Super Bowl -- which shares airing duties between CBS and Paramount -- pulled in 3.4 million new subscriber signups for Paramount+.

The Paris games bested new signup results of 5.6 times those of the previous eight weeks, according to Antenna, a subscription reach company. 

While all this is good news, we know what the next concern is: what of the millions who stick around for the long term -- or for six months or so -- to be loyal fans of that service? 

Antenna found 29% of the AFC Wild Card signup group had canceled their subscription, which means that 71% remained subscribed. It was slightly lower -- on a percentage basis -- for the Super Bowl for Paramount+: 68%, or 2.3 million, stayed with the service.

Peacock’s one-month survival rate across all 2023 signups was 78%.

Going forward, the bigger question for other premium streamers looking to move up the ladder is what special live programming -- sports or otherwise -- can they use to add on millions of subscribers in a couple of days?

Is there a new path for growth that can do that in a more mature marketplace when the competition continues to be fierce?