The One Major Streaming Platform Men Avoid Above All Others
A new report states men really don't like watching the Peacock streaming service, preferring to watch HBO and Disney+ instead.
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If you’re a major streaming service, fighting for subscribers in a competitive market, the last thing you want to do is alienate an entire category of viewers. However, Peacock, the streaming service for NBCUniversal, is doing just that, as it is the least popular platform among men, according to a new report on streaming services. It shows Peacock’s content of movies and TV series attract an audience that skews over 60% female, far different from the audience breakdowns that rivals Netflix and Disney+ attract.
According to a report by Parrot Analytics, Peacock ranks the worst in what they call “Gender Skew by Content Catalog,” which is a measurement in the difference in interest among men and women in what a streaming service offers. Based on an ideal 50/50 gender split among viewers, Peacock’s viewing audience skews 10.4% female, basically a 60/40 split in favor of women. On the surface, that may not sound so bad, but it could be disastrous for the streaming service, as male viewers are needed to drive subscriptions and raise viewing times.
As the graphic shows, Peacock, Hulu, and Apple TV+ have audiences that skew largely female, while Disney+ and HBO Max tend to skew more male. The numbers are based on social interactions compared to the average audience demographic. Basically, more women are talking about Peacock and Hulu content online, while men tend to talk about Disney and HBO content more online.
While we don’t know what specific content is driving the interactions between men and women, it’s probably no surprise Disney is home to Star Wars and Marvel content, while HBO is home to DC and Game of Thrones content, which skews largely male.
The audience split between men and women is perhaps the driving force behind Peacock’s disappointing subscriber numbers. Since first going online in July of 2020, Peacock has amassed only 13 million paying subscribers out of 28 million active accounts, according to TechCrunch. The difference here is Peacock’s streaming app offers free content, with premium content behind a paywall for subscribers who pay $4.99 a month.
13 million subscribers barely gets Peacock in the top ten streaming services, and is dwarfed by Netflix (225 million subscribers), Amazon Prime Video (205 million subscribers), and Disney+ (130 million subscribers). Worse, it doesn’t seem to be adding new subscribers in large numbers. The lack of subscribers may be why the streaming service has racked up over $467 million in losses as of this summer.
Peacock’s poor showing among men isn’t for lack of trying. The service offers wrestling and NFL content, although that content is also available on broadcast, so it doesn’t necessarily attract men to subscribe. Peacock does offer some male-oriented content, like the Halloween movies, the Jurassic Park films, and it is the exclusive streaming home for Yellowstone.
However, their “featured” content is largely broadcast series from NBC and reality shows, which tend to skew female.
To its credit, Peacock is attempting to close the gap with more content for men. Giant Freakin Robot reported exclusively that Peacock is developing a Halloween series for the service, and the John Wick prequel series The Continental with Mel Gibson is also headed to the service.
