On Monday, Peacock will debut original shows unlike anything the NBCUniversal-owned streaming platform has launched before… Vertical mini-dramas, brought to you by Bravo.
It is called the unwritten vertical string The campus is secretis part of a big push into mobile content by Peacock, which is leaning into vertical video and personalized mobile experiences as it tries to get more engagement from loyal users.
“We’re trying to give people reasons to open our app every day, and we know the value of an extra hour per user per month, and we know the value of a user spending an extra day on our platform,” says Matt Strauss, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, in an interview with Hollywood Reporter. “We’re being very surgical, to determine which audiences we think we can super-serve, and how we can drive and generate more of that time share by making sure we’re the absolute best destination for those fans who want to spend more video calories on Peacock.”
The result was a series of experiments and bets: live sports content from the NBA and FIFA World Cup, clips, and mobile games like Law and order and risk! todayand Shop What’s Happeninga live, vertical series with the ability to click to buy. And yes, that original programming, starting with those little Bravo dramas.
“If you think about mini-dramas, mini-dramas are essentially soap operas, and one could argue that Bravo and these docuseries are kind of the current iteration, or at least close to the old soap operas,” says Liz Jenkins, chief business officer, NBCUniversal Entertainment. “Peacock is one part of the flywheel of NBCUniversal, and our intellectual property and our franchises are the things that feed the flywheel, and I think storytellers and intellectual property come first, but we have to show where and how audiences are consuming content, and so I think it’s clear that with the increasing amount of consumption happening on mobile, it’s important that we get out there in an organic or authentic format for that.”
But Peacock has also quietly begun licensing some smaller dramas from ReelShort, which Strauss sees as being about building an ecosystem where people get used to watching vertical video content, betting that acquired programming can complement its originals.
The company is also leaning into advanced technology, including an AI-powered Andy Cohen that will guide viewers through Bravo segments, and advanced technology that automates the process of converting live and on-demand video from horizontal to vertical format.
“We designed this in a way that it could be extrapolated to any large catalog of programming, like Imagine The office Being an experience, or SNL“So when you combine those four elements of clips, live vertical video, assets, and innovation, you know this didn’t happen overnight,” Strauss says.
and THR I learned that Peacock this month will launch a personalized vertical video feed, first based on clips, before adding Your Bravoverse later this summer. Disney+ and Netflix have also significantly updated their vertical video offerings in recent months, and Peacock, like those platforms, sees the move as key to growing their intellectual property.
“The interesting thing about intellectual property and these franchises and this emotional connection is that they stand the test of time,” Jenkins says. “These franchises, these big IPs, have been around for decades and decades and have weathered many different cycles of innovation and expansion on these platforms. So, yes, of course, for us it’s about driving engagement and that kind of thing, but it’s more than that. It’s how do you continue to nurture and expand the health relevance of these franchises and provide the fans with what they need?”
It turns out that fans are using their phones for content, too. Peacocks just want to meet them where they are.
