Peacock no longer has a free tier for new users and is shifting its focus to its two paid subscription tiers moving forward.
Streaming services have become an increasingly popular form of entertainment in American households and throughout the world.
Peacock initially set itself apart by having a free tier. However, the no longer avails this tier to new users, which means that they will have to choose between the Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus tiers.
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The increased popularity of streaming services
An increasing number of households are cutting the cord with their cable providers and switching to streaming full time.
In fact, in 2022, 83 percent of Americans subscribed to at least one streaming service, with most of them subscribing to four streaming services at once.
The entire video streaming industry is expected to grow to over $100 billion in revenue in 2025. Although Netflix is still the most popular platform, more new streaming services are popping up every day.
Is Peacock free?
Netflix may still be the most popular and profitable streaming platform, but NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock, is definitely picking up steam.
Peacock certainly had some growing pains when it first launched, but after successfully streaming the 2022 Winter Olympics and expanding the platform’s range of compatible devices, it has reached over 20 million paid subscribers since December 2022.
One of the things that has helped Peacock stand out from its competitors in the beginning was the fact that Peacock used to offer a free subscription tier.
This means that although the paid Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus tiers with additional benefits and content were available, households could also join the platform and start watching for free.
However, since 30 January 2023, Peacock is no longer making this free tier available for new subscribers to access. The decision is reportedly based on Peacock’s new growth strategy, which will focus on their paid subscription tiers.
Fortunately, people that already signed up for the free Peacock tier before this date will not lose their access to the limited episodes of shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation or shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Battlestar Galactica, Superstore, Downton Abbey, Short Term 12, and Night of the Living Dead, for now.
Moving forward, new customers will only be able to choose between the Peacock Premium and the Peacock premium Plus tiers when they join the platform.
Furthermore, although users may still be able to watch content on Peacock for free with their Comcast Cable and Cox, these agreements may also come to an end soon.
| Pick a Peacock plan here. |
What is Peacock offering in lieu of the free tier?
While Peacock’s free tier has not completely vanished, the company has created a special deal to keep new subscribers interested in the platform, despite the fact that they can no longer access content for free on the platform.
This deal includes a full year’s subscription to the Peacock Premium tier for only $29.99. This is more than a 40 percent discount, so it should soften the blow slightly of removing the free tier for most new users.
It is worth noting that this Peacock Premium tier is still ad-supported, but it will offer new users the security of having access to the platform’s entire library of content, unlike the free tier.
About the Peacock paid tiers
The two paid tiers on Peacock offer full access to the over 80000 hours of content that the platform has.
Subscribing to the Peacock Premium tier, which costs $4.99 per month or the Peacock Premium Plus tier, which costs $9.99 per month will help you avoid just getting into a show only to realise that you can only access a few of its episodes.
The Peacock Premium tier still includes advertisements with the wider range of content, but the Peacock Premium Plus tier is advertisement-free.
Are the Peacock paid tiers worth it?
Although many people are frustrated about the fact that they will no longer be able to access the content on Peacock via the free tier, it is important to consider this streaming service in comparison to other streaming services, as shown below:
| Streaming service | Does it have a free tier? | Paid subscription price |
| Peacock | Not for new users | $4.99 to $9.99 per month |
| Netflix | No | $6.99 to $19.99 per month |
| Disney+ | No | $7.99 per month |
| Hulu | No | $7.99 to $82.99 per month |
| HBO Max | No | $10 to $15 per month |
Thus, even with the removal of the free tier from Peacock, subscribing to this streaming service on the ad-supported or ad-free tiers may still be worth it, since the subscription fees are still lower than those of some other popular streaming services.
