For prospective and current subscribers to NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, be prepared to see larger recurring charge than before. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cost of Peacock’s monthly subscription price is hiking up by a few dollars, beginning on August 17.
Subscribers of the premium plan, who currently pay $4.99, will begin paying $5.99. Users of the premium plus plan will have a $2 increase in their account, taking their monthly fee from $9.99 to $11.99.
Peacock is the most recent streamer to announce a price increase and this increase is the first in the history of Peacock since the streaming service launched in the summer of 2020.
NBCUniversal says that this price increase will allow “Peacock to continue to invest in the best user experience and the highest-quality content while remaining competitive in the marketplace.” In the first three months of 2020, Peacock’s subscriber count hit nearly 22 million, which is around a 60% increase from previous years.
Since Peacock’s launch in 2020, the streamer has added more than 80,000 hours of content, including new NBC and Bravo episodes launching just the day after they air on their respective networks, exclusive movies from Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, streaming channels from Reelz and Hallmark and even includes morning news from MSNBC and CNBC.
Even with the price increase looming over the heads of subscribers, NBCUniversal has predicted that 2023 will bring around three billion in losses for Peacock as NBCUniversal and Comcast navigate the transitions into streaming.
This raise in monthly fees seems to be a recent trend, while the Peacock is the most recent, Warner Bros Discovery raised the monthly price of Max, taking it to $15.99 per month. The hike for Max followed the prices of Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+ all raising their fees by about $2 to $3.
Paramount Global also raised their prices for Paramount+, but this rise is slightly more expected as Paramount+ and Showtime navigate the combination of the two streamers. Paramount+ alone is $9.99, and the option of only purchasing Paramount+ is still available, but for just a couple more dollars a month, subscribers can have Paramount+ with Showtime for $11.99.
The trend in price hikes within streaming services just proves that the services are well aware of just how competitive they need to be to hold on to their current subscribers and to attract new subscribers.