The Office is Peacock's late-breaking trump card

The Ringer

"On Peacock, The Office is a deliberate centerpiece," says Alison Herman. "Fire up the service on your TV and you’ll be met with three separate prompts to watch The Office, all before you encounter an original show like A.P. Bio or even a licensed title like Jurassic Park." Peacock's Office collection features regular episodes, "superfan" episodes, an exhaustive compilation of Office clips and episodes sorted into every category imaginable and even an Office channel featuring ambient footage not of the show but of office-related things. "Scroll down far enough on the Collection page, however, and you’ll find a gambit that’s both telling and more promising," says Herman. "After clips of the show’s final table read and a sampler curated by Kate Flannery, you’ll find gentle transitions away from The Office entirely. A list titled 'On the Job' includes direct Office descendants like Parks and Recreation and Superstore, but also more eclectic picks like House and Below Deck. 'The Office Alums on the Silver Screen' features John Krasinski’s Away We Go and Angela Kinsey’s All-Stars. And cast members don’t just pick their favorite episodes of their own show—they also highlight what’s on offer elsewhere on Peacock. Apparently, Oscar Nunez is a fan of Ray Donovan. This is what NBCUniversal paid half a billion dollars for: The Office not just as a sensation in its own right, but a foundation for an entire new enterprise. Peacock missed out on the 2020 Olympics, which was meant to be a major promotional tie-in for the service, and then had to wait a few months for The Office to migrate over from its previous home. Now that the eagle has finally landed, we can see how Peacock plans to use it—namely, as a lure for subscribers who can then be guided into checking out what else the service has to offer. The Office is so important to Peacock’s endgame that the platform endlessly marketed as free (albeit with caveats) has put it behind a paywall. Only the first two seasons, with ads, will be available to subscribers outside Peacock’s premium tiers."