YouTube is eating TV, and Peacock is the next course
While YouTube has made no secret of its plans to subsume traditional TV, until now it’s been missing the kind of original shows and live sports coverage that people typically seek out through paid streaming services. Adding Peacock’s catalog will transform YouTube Premium from a mere grab-bag of extra features into something more akin to Netflix or Hulu — though it might also raise prices.
Details of YouTube’s Premium bundle with Peacock
Today, YouTube Premium consists mainly of feature enhancements for regular YouTube videos. For $16 per month or $160 per year, you get ad-free viewing, offline downloads on mobile devices, background video playback, and higher video quality. The subscription also includes YouTube Music, an alternative to Spotify and Apple Music with millions of streaming songs.
YouTube also sells a “Lite” version of Premium for $9 per month without the streaming music subscription, though this comes with ads and background viewing restrictions for YouTube Shorts and music videos. (Both plans are entirely separate from YouTube TV, the bundle of cable channels that starts at $65 per month.)
Peacock Premium, meanwhile, costs $11 per month or $110 per year, and the new deal with NBCUniversal will bring its entire catalog into YouTube Premium, though there’s still some confusion on how this will work.
YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby says Premium subscribers will “automatically receive Peacock” next year, though the company seems to be avoiding phrases like “for free” or “at no extra charge.” YouTube is also not commenting on whether it will add a lower price tier without Peacock Premium, or whether it’ll have some combination of YouTube Premium and Peacock Premium without YouTube Music.
This is pure speculation on my part, but my guess is that YouTube Premium will get a small price hike for existing subscribers — maybe a dollar or two extra per month — and that users will be able to downgrade to a Peacock-free plan at the old price. If the price doesn’t jump by too much, most users probably won’t bother.
