NBC misses historic opportunity to air Caitlin Clark in order to promote Peacock

The GIST: NBC has been enjoying the perks of the Caitlin Clark Effect, but when it came to airing her historic NCAA moment, the network didn’t put the game on linear television — a decision that not only cost them a larger audience, but also likely impeded the momentum of Clark’s popularity.

The game: The game aired exclusively behind a paywall on NBC’s streamer Peacock, and while viewership numbers aren’t available yet, it was inevitably limited to the platform’s 30M subscribers. And what was NBC airing instead? Law and Order reruns in an attempt to revive the network’s entertainment offerings following the writers’ strike. Dun dun.

The reasoning: This particular game happened to be one of NBC’s seven designated Iowa matches set to air exclusively on Peacock, per a 2022 agreement. The streamer’s strategy is to leverage desirable matchups to entice new subscriptions, like January’s NFL playoff game between Kansas City and Miami that drew a record 23M viewers and recruited 2.8M new subscribers before kickoff.

• While that may work for the NFL, women’s college basketball is still cultivating its fandom, meaning the more eyeballs, the better. Plus, local markets were still able to broadcast that NFL game, a luxury Iowa fans didn’t have.

The missed opportunity: Iowa played in four of the six most-watched WBB games this season, all of which drew over 1M viewers. But this was no ordinary game — it was a milestone that may never happen again. While promoting Peacock makes sense as a long-term strategy, sharing this moment with fans would have given NBC more short and long-term value.

Zooming out: While networks are gradually migrating toward DTC streaming platforms, there’s still more value in promoting a growing sport on linear television. Women’s college basketball is finally getting its shine, but it could benefit from having an NFL–sized fanbase before asking viewers to join Peacock.

• Networks say they’re interested in amplifying women’s sports, but as soon as there was an opportunity to net quick gains for shareholders, it was easy to shield Clark’s historic moment behind a paywall. Play the long game.