After its exclusive presentation of an AFC Wild Card playoff game produced outstanding results, Peacock has booked another NFL exclusive.
Parent company NBCUniversal on Tuesday announced that an NFL opening-weekend game set for Friday night Sept. 6, live from São Paulo, Brazil, will be shown only on the subscription streaming service. (The NFL will announce the matchup when it publishes its schedule in May, but one of the teams featured will be the Philadelphia Eagles.)
The game will highlight a busy week of early-season football for Peacock, which will also stream asimulcasts, along with NBC, of the first game of the season, as well as the first Sunday Night Football game of the 2024 campaign:
* Thurs., Sept. 5 – NFL Kickoff Game (NBC, Peacock)
* Fri., Sept. 6 – Peacock Exclusive NFL Game from São Paulo, Brazil
* Sat., Sept. 7 – Big Ten Saturday Night (NBC, Peacock)
* Sun., Sept. 8 – Season Debut of Primetime’s #1 Show: Sunday Night Football (NBC, Peacock)
“Peacock continues to deliver the best experience in sports streaming, as this game will follow this summer’s Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which will have every event live streamed on the service," said Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, in a statement.
The Jan. 13 game shown exclusively on Peacock featured the eventual Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs defeating the Miami Dolphins in absolutely freezing conditions. The game averaged 23 million viewers and produced, NBCU said, the most domestic internet traffic in one day ever.
According to research company antenna, that Wild Card weekend resulted in around 3 million Peacock sign-ups.
NBCU paid a reported $100 million to license that Wild Card game. Figures for the São Paulo are unavailable.
“As media consumption habits evolve, the NFL continues to work with our partners to put our games on digital platforms where our fans are increasingly spending their time,” added Hans Schroeder, NFL executive VP of media distribution. “The historic Wild Card game on Peacock in January was a viewership success and we look forward to continuing our strong streaming distribution with the opening weekend game in Brazil on Peacock.”
