The Athletic has live coverage of the AFC Wild Card matchup between the Chiefs and Dolphins.
NFL fans looking to watch this weekend's wild card matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins will encounter a paywall. While local NBC stations in Kansas City and Miami will broadcast the game, viewers outside those areas will have to pay a subscription fee to watch Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce vs. Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill on NBC's streaming service Peacock or the NFL+ app.
The game, scheduled to take place at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, will be the first playoff game in league history to air exclusively on a streaming network.
Fans, experts and even Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu have been critical of the move, but it probably won't be the last time the NFL and NBC switch to a subscriber strategy if enough viewers tune in.
What is Peacock and how can you catch the action? Here's what you should know.
What is Peacock?
Peacock is NBC's video streaming service, delivered to viewers over the Internet rather than broadcast, cable or satellite. The service, launched in 2020, offers live sports, including content from the previously shuttered cable channel NBC Sports Network, as well as films and television series.
Peacock offers a “Premium” subscription with live sports for $5.99 per month and an ad-free “Premium Plus” subscription for $11.99 per month.
It is supported on various web browsers as well as Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Vizio, Cox, Spectrum, Xfinity, PlayStation and Xbox and other platforms and devices.
What sports does Peacock stream?
In addition to NFL games, Peacock's sports offerings include the Premier League, the Olympics, WWE, men's and women's Big Ten football/basketball, golf and motorsports, among others.
Content from NBCSN's NBC Sports Gold Premier League Pass has also been transferred to the platform and includes figure skating, rugby and cycling.
How many people subscribe to Peacock?
Comcast said Peacock has 30 million subscribers, with subscriptions up 75 percent from last year.
What does Peacock do with an NFL wild card game?
Although Saturday's contest is the first NFL playoff game to be streamed exclusively, it isn't the first time the league has attempted something like this. Peacock exclusively broadcast a regular season game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers on December 23rd. This game averaged 7.3 million viewers and peaked at an average of 8.4 million viewers in the 10:45-11:00 p.m. (ET) time slot during the league's first commercial. free fourth quarter.
According to The Athletic's Richard Deitsch, Amazon Prime's “Thursday Night Football” averaged 11.86 million viewers last year, up 24 percent from 2021 (9.58 million). Deitsch notes, “Media executives continue to believe that sports can drive long-term subscriber growth.”
Peacock paid the NFL an estimated $110 million to broadcast Saturday's game, as first reported in May by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by The Athletic.
Why is the Chiefs game on Peacock?
It's probably no coincidence that the Chiefs — one of the league's most popular teams, bolstered by Taylor Swift's fan base — are competing in this prime-time slot. Peacock expects viewers outside of Kansas City and Miami to pull out their wallets to watch.
According to Deitsch, the six wild card games on Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 averaged 28.8 million viewers last year. He wrote: “It's very unlikely that the Dolphins-Chiefs game on Peacock will reach such a number, but if they break the 20 million viewer mark, I think Peacock officials and the NFL will consider it a huge victory.” will be looked at.”
Speaking about the strategy, Rick Cordella – the president of NBC Sports, who oversees sports at Peacock, said: “Sports is a big part of our overall strategy at Peacock, and sports are irreplaceable.”
“We know people will come for the game and are willing to pay a subscription price for the game,” he continued. “Sports was kind of the catalyst for people finding out about Peacock and then finding out about all the other great content we offer. It is a continuation of the existing plan that we have had for three years. We’re incredibly excited to see what the audience numbers will be and what we can do with it.”
How to sign up for Peacock
Fans can sign up for Peacock online or download the Peacock app on their supported device. Students receive a discount on Peacock Premium ($1.99 per month for 12 months).
What else you should know
In addition to airing on NBC stations in the teams' cities, Saturday's Chiefs-Dolphins game will also be available on mobile devices with NFL+.
Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Jason Garrett (analyst), Kaylee Hartung (reporter) and Terry McAulay (rules analyst) will call the game. There will be an ad-free fourth quarter.
Required reading
(Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images)