ADDICTED TO THE OLYMPICS A TURNAROUND THE PEACOCK STREAMING SERVICE PROBABLY CONTRIBUTED FOR

Four boxes with live Olympics action filled Peacock’s screen during its “Gold Zone” show one afternoon this week — one showing women hammer toss competitors, another with long jumpers going aloft, a third with racers leaping hurdles and the last showing the minutes counting down in the U.S.-Germany women’s soccer match.

- 

Occasionally producers punch up a concentrated look at one event. This was a gripping display of the breadth of Olympic sports, and it was hard not to get hooked.

Millions of Americans have shared similar experiences during the past week and half, powering a much-needed rebound for Peacock, the streaming service that was often the target of ridicule during Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and Beijing in 2022.

“It’s been a real turnaround,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Universal Media Group. With several days of competition remaining, NBC has surpassed 17 billion minutes streamed for the Paris games — the vast majority on Peacock — exceeding the streaming minutes for all of the previous Olympics combined.

Rather than detract from it, the chief executive believes Peacock has helped NBC’s television outlets to a ratings performance in Paris that has network honchos giddy with joy.

NEW THINKING, NEW RESULTS

Lazarus ordered a teardown of Peacock’s Olympics operation, memorably conceding in June that consumers had reacted with “the big digital middle finger” to their past work. Peacock was hard to navigate and plagued with glitches.

NBC also admits to failing to deliver on promises that Peacock would be the comprehensive Olympics experience, balking at showing some live events for fear it would cannibalize TV audiences — a traditional line of thinking that Paris has proven outmoded.