Live simulcasts of all three channels with current season programming are available live and on-demand next day. The hub also offers a VOD collection of new and classic titles, as well as other Hallmark library movies. It launched this week with popular series When Calls the Heart, and will feature new Hallmark series Ride and The Way Home in 2023.

Kelly Campbell, President of Peacock, and Direct-to-Consumer, NBCUniversal, says: “As we continue to make Peacock a premium streaming destination, Hallmark is exactly the type of brand we want to align with. Through this groundbreaking partnership, we’re giving Hallmark viewers a unique viewing experience while continuing to grow our audience, boosting engagement across both brands.”

Wonya Lucas, President & CEO, Hallmark Media, comments: “We’re proud to enter this partnership with Peacock and bring our widely beloved Hallmark content to their subscribers. The opportunity to provide our devoted fanbase access to all three of Hallmark’s linear networks will allow our audience to continue to grow and connect in meaningful ways.”

This will be the first time Peacock hosts all NBCUniversal linear TV coverage of the Olympics, and the first time audiences can watch all NBCUniversal’s coverage without a Pay TV subscription. During the Tokyo Olympics last year, while Peacock hosted a number of competitions –including gymnastics, track & field, and men’s basketball – viewers wishing to watch all of NBCUniversal’s coverage needed to stream through NBCSports.com or the NBCSports App, both of which required an authenticated Pay TV login. Conversely, Pay TV subscribers without Peacock were unable to watch several live events streamed exclusively on the service, including women’s gymnastics. The new approach taken by the company ensures all NBCUniversal coverage is available to both cable customers and streaming subscribers.

Molly Solomon, Executive Producer of NBC Olympics and Paralympics said, “We are excited to offer NBC Olympics’ storytelling and complete streaming coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Peacock. This approach provides the American audience with a dynamic, easy-to-use Olympic viewing hub where not a single moment, live or on-demand, will be missed.”

This is further evidence of NBCUniversal’s ambition to establish Peacock as a leader in the D2C arena. As of July 2021, Peacock has 54 million sign ups and 20 million monthly active user accounts.

Sky TV customers and NOW Entertainment Members in the UK and Ireland will now have free access to Peacock’s catalogue, with thousands of hours of TV shows and movies, including classic TV shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live, popular dramas such as Downtown Abbey and Battlestar Galactica, and unscripted series such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Peacock viewers will also have access to movie titles such as Best Man, Bird on a Wire and Children of Men.

Zai Bennett, Managing Director, Content at Sky UK and Ireland, said, “The introduction of Peacock content on Sky and NOW will expand the incredible line-up available to all our customers, giving them access to even more of the best entertainment from our partners at NBCUniversal. With brand new Peacock Originals, must-watch reality and hit library series, we couldn’t be more excited to add Peacock for all our customers, at no extra cost.”

“I’m looking to create a unique consumer experience where consumers believe that the value exchange, where they see advertising in return for content, is worth it. Without that they will opt-out of advertising [by paying for ad-free environments.]. Working with partners, there is lots of opportunity to reinvent what the advertising product looks like.”

She cited a practical example: less advertising once it becomes clear that the viewer is embarking on a binge-viewing session. Indulge that, she advised media owners. “Advertising, when it is done well, is a service to the consumer and if we don’t provide that service, people will not participate in our advertising, and none of us want that.”

Reed needs frequency capping so viewers do not get a negative view of the brand because they are inundated with their ads – and NBCU is delivering on that wish, at least on its own media assets. Molen said: “That was a big thing. We heard back from consumers as well as marketers, who were saying that if we watch lots of streaming, we are seeing the same commercial over and over. We built frequency capping to make sure viewers experience different ads.”

Both these executives are big fans of the pause ad, now available on Peacock, with Molen calling it a “big and beautiful ad for marketers” and Reed embracing the opportunity it presents “for beautiful brands with beautiful stories to tell.” The L’Oreal marketer said: “You literally have a billboard inside someone’s home – a big, beautiful canvas.”

NBCU has brought another ad innovation to market in the streaming environment, called Spotlight. With this, a buyer gets their ad inserted as the first commercial in the first standard ad break for every viewer on the streaming service, regardless of what they are watching (so including virtual linear channels and long-form VOD). Spotlight is only available for primetime. This is an attempt to bring the fast reach build of linear TV into the streaming environment as audiences grow.

You can find out more about The Future of TV Advertising U.S., and link to the video recordings of the event, here.