Peacock shocker: Streamer gets exclusive NFL playoff game

CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 15: An overall of the Wild Card logo on the field after the Wild Card game against the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cincinnati Bengals on January 15, 2022, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, OH. (Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire)

In an unprecedented move, Peacock has become the first streaming service to gain exclusive rights to one of the most valuable properties in all of television — an NFL playoff game.

NBC announced Monday that Peacock will carry an exclusive NFL playoff game on Wild Card weekend, marking the first time ever that a playoff game in any of the four major sports has been carried exclusively on a streaming service. The Peacock game will be the nightcap of the NFL’s Wild Card weekend doubleheader, with NBC and Peacock carrying the early game that afternoon.

NBC will also air a Wild Card game on the following day, making it the first company to carry three NFL playoff games on a single weekend. ESPN/ABC, CBS and FOX will carry one Wild Card game each.

The new NFL media rights deals that begin this season grant Peacock rights to one exclusive regular season game per season from 2023 to 2028. This season, that game will be Bills-Chargers on a Saturday night in Week 16. The prospect of Peacock — or any other streamer — carrying a playoff game this soon was not expected.

The playoff game does not fall under the broader rights deal, but is instead the result of a one-year agreement between NBC and the NFL worth in the neighborhood of $110 million, per The Wall Street Journal.

Not only will the Wild Card weekend game mark the first playoff game ever to air exclusively on a streaming service, it will also be just the second NFL playoff game that did not air on a broadcast network. ESPN carried a Cardinals-Panthers Wild Card game exclusively in 2015. In every year since, ESPN’s playoff games have been simulcast on ABC.

Like all NFL games on cable, Peacock’s playoff game will be available to watch over-the-air in the participating teams’ home markets. As one would imagine, the over-the-air simulcasts will air on NBC affiliates. The game will also be available to watch on the NFL+ app.

(News from NBC Sports, WSJ 5.15)

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

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Comments 8

Ryan Strnad says:

3 years ago

What about the Matt Ryan signing with CBS news?
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  3 years ago
  
  I’ll get to that today.
Hello Larry says:

3 years ago

This is a really bad move, most people don’t have access to Peacock and I think it’s really bad for the NFL to have a single playoff game not accessed by at least 20 million people. The Prime experiment didn’t even really work for TNF last season as the numbers got lower and lower and people complaining all season about how unstable the service was for them. Peacock has less subscribers than Prime, so this is going to be a really small audience that has access to this game. At least locals will still get it on their local stations.

Streaming ain’t there yet as broadcast is still the most valuable medium to reach the maximum amount of people for a live sporting event. I hope they only do that for one season and return that game back to NBC.

I think regular season exclusive streaming games are fine, but not playoffs. The league should never ever ever exclusively stream playoff games unless it’s on a free streaming service that everybody can access.

Like I said before I am really hoping this fails and this game returns to NBC in 2025.
ESL says:

3 years ago

Very shocking news. We all knew this was going to happen eventually, but I never thought it would be this soon. This is just a general question for Paulsen. How much of an impact did the Covid pandemic have on the continued ascent of streaming? Meaning, if Covid did not happen, would streaming be much more minimal than it is today? (Especially in the sports landscape?). I have to think the pandemic definitely accelerated the streaming affect. I’m sure it would have come eventually, but not this quickly. Do you agree?
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  3 years ago
  
  I think the timeline may have been sped up, if for no other reason than cord-cutting seems to have accelerated.
Nate Johnson says:

3 years ago

Yes this is really is huge news and surprising. However, after researching a bit it is somewhat understandable as to why a playoff game will be exclusively on Peacock because of how there’s no public knowledge on if FOX will have a 2nd Wildcard game in the new deal (at least to the public knowledge. Who knows what FOX and the NFL knows privately). That means the following seasons could have a playoff game on a streaming platform, FOX, ESPN/ABC (they will have another WC game at least once in their new deal. No telling which year), or who knows where else: 2025, 2027, 2028, 2030, and 2032.

What’s surprising to me is how the NFL was the first of the Major Professional Sport/Event to jump on this first. I always believed that the NBA would in their new deal and suggested that it comes from the NBATV games. The NFL to do this in a way is a very genius move. It simply shows that they can say hey why not we put a “Super” Wildcard game deal up for grabs and of course anyone is willing to place a high bid on it. Now it’s possible we’re likely to see this happen another time or two at least in this deal which is extra revenue for them.

The concerning part of course is that now with this being the biggest sporting event to date to be exclusively streamed, is it possible that those who’s on social media will be noticed of something before it’s shown on their TV. Or will a friend in a group chat that has a slightly better stream tip something that someone else hasn’t seen yet. Then of course those that are betting on the games and noticed how they are receiving information nearly 1 minute ahead of time and is spoiled of their viewing experience. This could come as a displeased experience for the viewers that still watches from cable, satellite, and the antenna. I’ve noticed that only a very small percentage has voiced their frustration through this, but now that it’s possible it’ll get louder I wonder if it will now be heard or ignored.

Last point, while there’s genuine celebration to have at NBC, I do wonder if the team of Tirico/Collinsworth calls the Peacock game? If it’s a no, next up would be Al Michaels/maybe Tony Dungy or Noah Eagle/maybe Todd Blackledge. NBC should want a strong matchup for their Peacock game, but also should be opened to wanting to have their top broadcasting duo there as well to let it be known that this a huge landmark. Of course the NFL has a lot to say on which matchup they will telecast, but if I’m sure the NFL would also want NBC to treat it as a huge event as well despite receiving $110M from them.
Mn_ace says:

3 years ago

I got peacock for WWE NFL SNF The Olympics Bel-Air and movies. It’s a pretty good streaming service
nickp91 says:

3 years ago

I got peacock for WWE and supercross