There is going to major void for a lot of people on Netflix come December 31, 2020. The streamer has confirmed that The Office will leave the platform on December 31 before moving over to NBC's Peacock streaming service.
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 will 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.
A lot of people think Netflix losing The Office will be a bit of a blow to the streaming giant. It has been extremely successful on Netflix and it's still one of their best performers on the service. Netflix already lost Friends to HBO Max at the start of the year and with the loss of The Office, it's another popular series that has become a go-to binge watch for consumers on Netflix.
It will be interesting to see if The Office causes Peacock to see a major boom in subscribers once it relocates there from Netflix. NBC's streaming service recently reported 22 million subscribers combined between their various free and paid tiers. With The Office waiting in the wings, Peacock might want to consider a significant marketing push to let consumers know that they are the new home for the show. Also 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 will also be offering extended versions of The Office episodes, something that was not done on Netflix.
Will YOU head over to Peacock to watch The Office? Will Netflix feel the loss of losing such a popular show?