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Peacock wants users to play games, and not the kind your toxic ex used to play.
The NBCU-owned streamer will begin testing the ability for users to play mini-games and watch vertical videos on its mobile app, it announced this week at CES.
The test will include games called Daily Sort, Daily Swap, Predictions, What The, and Venn, some of which will be tied to Peacock programming. Through the games, users will be able to predict outcomes of shows, and they will be able to return later to the app to see if their predictions were right. As part of the test, the streamer is also rolling out vertical video playlists featuring clips from Peacock shows in addition to the games.
Peacock is rolling out the features to some users now, with a larger debut of the products slated for this spring.
Karen Kovacs, NBCU’s president of advertising and partnerships, said at a CES panel on Tuesday that the mini-games are among Peacock’s efforts to target Gen Z, noting that, over the summer, it worked with creators like Alex Cooper during the Olympics.
“We’re adding gaming…and thinking very specifically about trying to create a very welcoming environment for Gen Z, so when the NBA comes next year, we’ve already got them in, we’ve got them engaged, and then we’re going to feed them content that we know they’re going to be really excited about,” she said.
The company said the broader rollout of the features will also bring potential new opportunities for advertisers.
Peacock, which counted 36 million subscribers as of October, has lagged behind some of its competitors in terms of subscriber growth, and the service still isn’t profitable.
Other streamers have leaned into fan engagement in an effort to reduce churn, including Netflix’s Moments feature, which debuted late last year and lets users share clips of its content. Netflix has also rolled out games based on its IP: Its most recent titles include Squid Game: Unleashed.
That’s not all: The streamer announced other features at CES, too. “Live in Browse” will show live events on the top row of the Peacock app’s home page, and the platform is planning to expand its Pause Ad format availability into live event streams. Peacock also announced that its Ad Creative Engine product will be available for live events and it will further roll out new “emotional metadata” capabilities later in 2025.
Its parent company, Comcast, also announced at CES that NBCU will serve as a media partner for Universal Ads, a new advertising platform aimed at SMBs that allows users to buy TV and streaming ads in the same place. Paramount, Roku, and AMC Networks are among the platform’s other media partners.
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