Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal details how video streaming service Peacock is betting on the 2022 Olympics to increase subscribers, the difficulty streaming platforms like Peacock, Disney+, AppleTV+ and HBO Max are seeing to retain its new subscribers, and the outlook for streaming.

Video Transcript

BRIAN CHEUNG: Well, political headwinds have dampened the enthusiasm over the coming Winter Olympics, but they're really actually starting three days from now. In fact, I think some of the preliminary events are starting tomorrow. But the event could be critical in the streaming wars space, where NBC'S Peacock is looking to ride the wave and onboard some more viewers.

So let's bring in Yahoo Finance's media expert, Allie Canal, for a little bit more on the trends that we should expect to see from the Winter Olympics. And Allie, you know, I'm not an "Office" fan, so I don't have Peacock. But is NBC's expectation that a lot of people will sign up so that they can watch some downhill skiing events during the Olympics?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I mean, they're hoping, Brian. I mean, the entirety of the Olympic broadcast will be available to stream on Peacock subscription tiers. And relative to some of the other competitors, it's not too bad. It's not going to break the bank. You can watch it with ads for $4.99 or without ads for $9.99.

But Peacock is really hoping to learn from the Tokyo Olympics, where viewers had a really hard time watching some of these events. There were even reports that many subscribers were confused if the events were even available on the streamer. And that turned a lot of people off to the service, which was a huge blow to Peacock's business.

So Beijing is going to be a really important turning point for the company because when you compare Peacock to some of the competition, it's just been slow, slow to gain traction, slow to lure subscribers, slow to really make those big headlines. Last week, Comcast came out and noted the amount of subscribers that Peacock has. They said over 9 million people were paying to watch Peacock. And then, of course, Peacock is also available for free to existing cable and broadband customers. An additional seven million of these customers use Peacock regularly.

But those numbers, they're just kind of puny. When you look at Netflix, that has 222 million subscribers. You have Amazon Prime Video, 175 million. And that Disney bundle with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, 179 million. So, you know, I have to say here that Peacock has to step it up.

Now heading into this month, they do have some big content. Of course, they're going to be airing the Super Bowl on February 13-- obviously huge. We also have "Bel-Air." That's the new "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" reboot. That will be out the same day as the Super Bowl on February 13. We have a new movie coming out with J-Lo, Owen Wilson, called "Marry Me." That will stream on Peacock.

So we have some bigger name shows and movies. And then, of course, they're really leaning in to the live events, the live sports. And that's where I think Peacock can really create its own little niche. I don't think they are the next Netflix or the next HBO Max, but perhaps they really just lean into live sports. That could be what differentiates them in the streaming wars. And we know how competitive that is right now.

AKIKO FUJITA: Allie, this talk of the Olympics just reminded me, I did, in fact, sign up for Peacock during the Tokyo games--

ALEXANDRA CANAL: There you go.

AKIKO FUJITA: --and then just canceled it a few days later. I just didn't-- you know, the payoff to me wasn't there. But it sounds like I'm not the only one because we're seeing increasing churn here, right, among streaming services who are finding that people are doing exactly what I did-- sign up to watch something and then just cancel a month later.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: You are definitely not alone there, Akiko. In fact, the "Wall Street Journal" had a really comprehensive piece about how difficult it is for streaming giants to retain these customers, even after big surges. So let's start with Disney+ here. We had "Hamilton" debut on the platform during 4th of July weekend, 2020. There was this massive, massive surge, far more than any other point of the year. You can see it right in your screen there.

In a similar vein, let's look at HBO Max. One of the big standouts there was "Wonder Woman 1984." This was exclusive to HBO Max at the time, no theatrical release, Christmas Day 2020. Again, this major bump in signups. And then finally, Apple TV+, you will see the same type of graph. We have "Greyhound" starring Tom Hanks. That also came out in July 2020, same time as "Hamilton." And once again, another big jump.

However, according to this data, roughly half of those users that signed up within three days of those major releases, they were gone within six months. And you were just talking about Peacock, the Olympics. Again, there was a huge sign-up there around the Tokyo Olympics. But guess what? Four months later, half of them are gone, Akiko included.

So what does this all tell us? That these big releases, although they can attract some subscribers, even if only half of them stay, they also can lead to increased churn. It's really easy to cancel a subscription when you have to pay monthly. If you're just bingeing something really quick, really easy to just binge it within that time frame and then quickly cancel. We were talking about it during the break.

I forget, so I'm not really on top of it as some of these other people are. But clearly, it's top of mind. We have seen this overall slowdown in subscriber growth. You can just look at Netflix's latest earnings report to see that. So that just means that content is getting more expensive. The marketing, the titles, the stars of franchises, all of that is just going to cost a lot more money. And with that could potentially come some churn. So how these companies handle that is going to be interesting to just keep an eye on moving forward as the streaming wars intensify.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, it just shows how heated the landscape is now. Allie Canal, thanks so much for bringing us that story.