For the first time, an NFL playoff game will air exclusively on a streaming platform.
The NFL and NBCUniversal have agreed to put one of this season’s playoff games exclusively on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.
The wild card playoff game will be in prime time on Saturday, January 13. The afternoon wild card game that day will air on both NBC and Peacock. NBC and Peacock will also air the wild card game in prime time the next day.
The NFL’s exclusive deal with Peacock marks a shift for the NFL and for television as a whole. There’s never been an NFL playoff game shown exclusively through streaming, and for that matter there’s never been any streaming-only American television show that draws the kind of audience that NFL playoff games draw.
NBCUniversal is reportedly paying about $110 million to the NFL for the rights to show one game on Peacock exclusively. It’s a one-year deal, but it’s safe to say that if it’s successful, it won’t be the last time a streaming platform airs an NFL playoff game, as television moves increasingly away from traditional broadcast and cable and toward streaming.