NBC’s Peacock streaming service hits 33 million signups so far – CNET [CNET]

Peacock, the partly free streaming service that kicked off this year as the new home for streaming The Office, ended last year with 33 million signups, parent company Comcast said Thursday. That includes free users and accounts that pay either $5 or $10 a month to unlock Peacock’s full catalog. It also includes people who may not be using it at all anymore.

That’s up from nearly 22 million signups at the end of September. 

Peacock was NBCUniversal‘s entrant in the so-called streaming wars, when a flood of new video services spilled out from tech and media giants starting in late 2019. Competing with the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus and HBO Max, Peacock is unique among the new crop of rivals in offering a free tier, which lets anyone in the US watch about two-thirds of the catalog with advertising. It also has paid memberships: You can unlock the full library of shows and movies for a price of $4.99 a month plus ads, and a $9.99-a-month upgrade makes the service mostly ad-free. 

By comparison, Disney Plus is $7 a month, rising to $8 in March, and HBO Max is $15. Neither has advertising.