Fans of The Office began mourning the loss of the series on Netflix when it was announced that it would be leaving the streamer on December 31, 2020, to head to the Peacock streaming service. The hit workplace comedy has been one of the most popular titles on Netflix so I'm pretty sure they were mourning that loss as well but at least they got the most of it before the show made its exit. It has been announced that The Office saw a surge in views throughout the month of December as fans got their last binge in before it left the platform.
Nielsen, which reported the latest U.S. streaming numbers, shows that The Office gained serious momentum in its final days on Netflix. The show finished No.1 for the period of December 7 10 the 13, with more than 1.2 billion minutes of streaming. This marked the seventh No.1 finish for the show since Nielsen initiated the streaming chart last summer.
The news that The Office would be joining Peacock's library in 2021 broke some time ago but Netflix made the official announcement with their reveal of the comings and goings on the service for the month of December. NBCUniversal acquired the rights for the next five years by paying Producers Universal Television $100 million per year. This means that beginning on January 1, 2021, Peacock would be the only streaming service to contain all nine seasons of the series domestically. NBC previously licensed The Office's exclusive streaming rights to Netflix but with the launch of their own service, it became clear that The Office would depart Netflix and head to Peacock.
It will be interesting to see if The Office causes Peacock to see a major boom once the first week numbers come in from its arrival on the service. NBC's streaming service recently reported 22 million subscribers combined between their various free and paid tiers. . Working in their favor is that people can watch The Office for free on Peacock so that will be even more incentive to check it out. The streaming service also offers extended versions of The Office episodes, something that was not done on Netflix.
Have YOU made the move to Peacock to follow The Office?