Peacock Claims Win Over Netflix in One Area: ‘Office’ Viewers

(Bloomberg) -- More people are watching “The Office” on Peacock than when the hit comedy was on Netflix Inc., NBCUniversal’s chief executive officer said Thursday.

On Comcast Corp.’s earnings call, Jeff Shell, who leads its entertainment division, said viewing of “The Office” on Peacock is “actually higher than we think the usage was among Netflix customers.”

Shell didn’t provide viewership metrics. He said a more important point was that “Office” viewers are also watching other comedies on Peacock, like “Parks and Recreation” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

Streaming services typically attract new customers with buzzy shows, then hope they will stick around by sampling other programming.

The comedy series about office workers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, ended in 2013, but reruns of “The Office” were among the most popular on Netflix.

That convinced NBCUniversal to pay $100 million a year for the rights to have all nine seasons on Peacock.

NBCUniversal has been touting the show’s switch to Peacock, which started on Jan. 1, and said it had helped drive more users. On Thursday, Comcast announced that about 33 million people had signed up for Peacock, though it didn’t disclose how many of those users are getting the free or paid version.

While the first two seasons of “The Office” are free on Peacock, customers have to pay for the premium tier -- at $4.99 a month -- for the other seven seasons.

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