Apple TV and Peacock Team up to Take on Netflix and Disney+
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While Apple’s new Formula 1 deal is grabbing headlines among sports fans, the company is also sweetening the pot on the entertainment front with a new bundle that combines Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+) and NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service for a lower monthly price.
According to Apple’s Newsroom announcement, starting Monday, October 20, customers in the US can subscribe to an Apple TV and Peacock bundle for $14.99 per month for Peacock Premium, or $19.99 per month for Peacock Premium Plus. That means you’re getting both services and a good breadth of content for a price that’s far more competitive with the two biggest elephants in the room: Netflix and Disney+.
There is no more perfect combination of entertainment than the Apple TV and Peacock Bundle, with our complementary content portfolios featuring the best shows, movies, sports, and live events. With this first-of-its-kind initiative with Apple, we’re redefining what the customer journey should be for a streaming bundle with rich sampling and a smooth sign-up process, and we’re broadening the reach of Peacock to even more audiences.
Matt Strauss, Chairman, NBCUniversal Media Group
How the Pricing Breaks Down
Apple says the bundles offer savings of over 30% compared to subscribing separately, but depending on how you do the math, that may be an understatement. Peacock Premium (which, despite the name, includes ads) now costs $10.99 monthly. Peacock Premium Plus, which is mostly ad-free, is $16.99 per month. Apple recently raised the monthly price of Apple TV to $12.99, which brings the cost of subscribing to both services separately up to $23.98 and $29.98, depending on which Peacock tier you opt for.
That means the Apple TV and Peacock Premium bundle saves about 38% ($8.99 per month), while the Premium Plus option comes in with a savings of just over 33% ($9.99 per month).
Bundling Beyond Apple One
Ordinarily, a bundle like this would make things complicated for Apple One subscribers, since they already have Apple TV. Thankfully, Apple anticipated this and is offering a 35% discount on Peacock Premium Plus for Apple One Family and Premier subscribers.
Xfinity customers may still find Comcast’s StreamSaver bundle the better deal, as it offers Apple TV, Peacock, and Netflix for $15 per month. The catch is that these are Peacock Premium and Netflix Standard with Ads, which include commercials, while Apple TV remains ad-free, as always. Still, since that’s the same price as Apple’s base Apple TV and Peacock bundle, StreamSaver is essentially throwing in Netflix for free.
Annual Plans and the Retention Game
Apple hasn’t said whether it will be offering annual pricing for its new bundles. As things currently stand, Peacock’s plans are available as annual subscriptions for $109.99 and $169.99, effectively offering a year of service for the price of 10 months. Apple has typically done the same, but has more recently sweetened the deal by keeping its annual price unchanged at $99.99 even after the monthly increase — effectively less than eight months of the new rate.
While Apple didn’t say anything about its new pricing strategy, most analysts see it as a retention play. With an ebb and flow of hits, Apple TV is likely more susceptible to “subscriber churn” — folks jumping on for a month or two and canceling after they’ve binged a few shows. Making the annual price more attractive encourages more folks to stick around.
The same logic applies to this new Apple TV and Peacock bundle. Customers are more likely to stick around with two bundles offering a broader variety of content, and the extra $3–5 per month is still cheaper than paying for Peacock on its own and hopping onto Apple TV for more than three or four months a year.
A Strategy to Stay Competitive
There’s also a broader strategic angle involved. The new partnership shows how smaller streaming players are teaming up to provide competitive alternatives to giants like Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max. After all, Apple TV frequently wins for original content, but its lack of the kind of content library found on other services gives subscribers fewer reasons to stick around.
This Peacock partnership helps Apple fill that gap without the need to engage in costly and complicated licensing deals, and shows how collaboration could be the next phase in the streaming wars.
Cross-Promotions and Free Previews
Apple and Peacock are also running a cross-promotion to whet people’s appetite for the new bundle by offering select shows on each other’s services. Peacock subscribers will be able to enjoy “up to three episodes” of Stick, Slow Horses, Silo, The Buccaneers, Foundation, Palm Royale, and Prehistoric Planet for free, while Apple TV users can watch the same number of episodes from Peacock shows, including Law & Order, Bel-Air, Twisted Metal, Love Island Games, Happy’s Place, The Hunting Party, and Real Housewives of Miami.
Notably, Apple uses the phrase “Apple TV app users” here, rather than “Apple TV subscribers,” which suggests this content will be free even to those who aren’t paying for a subscription to either service.
