Peacock Premium vs Premium Plus: What are ads worth to you?

Peacock is quickly establishing itself as a solid alternative to Netflix. The NBCUniversal-owned streaming service is the exclusive home to fan-favorite shows like The Office, popular originals like Poker Face, and more, including Hollywood new releases and classics. It also supports Roku. The service offers a couple of different pricing options. So, when considering Peacock Premium vs. Premium Plus, what do you need to know?

In this article, we will break down the pros and cons of the two services, comparing what they offer and at what price so that you can make an informed decision about where to spend your streaming dollars.

If you’re ready to sign up, you can hit the link below and get streaming.

What’s the difference between Peacock Premium vs Premium Plus?

Ads

The significant difference between Peacock Premium and Premium Plus is the ad breaks. Peacock Premium Plus lets you experience an ad-free streaming experience, while Peacock Premium isn’t ad-free. There are a few exceptions to this. Even with the Premium Plus plan, you will still have ads on sporting events and the live local NBC channel TV station. Honestly, the difference isn’t much for 5 dollars. You can save your money by watching ads for 5 minutes per hour.

Typically, you’ll see ads before and in the middle of your viewing experience. Another thing worth noting is that these ads are unskippable; the only way to remove them is to buy Premium Plus.

Library

Both plans have the same access to a library of over 80,000 hours of content. That includes full seasons of Peacock original shows, current shows airing on NBC and Bravo, movies, classic shows, live sports shows and events, and even the option of adding specialty shows at an added cost. Premium Plus also gives you access to the 24/7 local NBC channel. Note that you will be able to access one local NBC channel based on the geolocation of your streaming device. This channel will include ads.

Offline Downloads

Peacock Premium Plus is a must-have for people always on the go. Besides losing ads, Premium Plus lets you download select titles for offline viewing and all-day access to your local live NBC TV station. That becomes extremely important for people without WiFi or who want to save their monthly data plan. This feature is missing in the Peacock Premium plan.

Users can save up to 25 pieces of downloadable content across all devices at any one time. You can only download some content only for a total of 10 times per account.

Pricing

So, what do these two plans cost you?

• Peacock Premium — $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year
• Peacock Premium Plus — $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year

Which is best for me?

We all want to cut a little from our monthly spending. We often find ourselves spending quite a bit on streaming services; there are so many out there, and the monthly fees can add up fast.

If saving money is your priority, at half the price, Peacock Premium has a clear advantage over Premium Plus, with virtually the same library of great titles.

This choice largely depends on your tolerance for ads. Most people tolerate a few ads just fine; it’s to save money. After all, you still get to watch everything on your playlist.

But there are also other things to consider apart from ads. If you travel a lot and feel the need to watch your shows offline, or if you’re coming to Peacock for the local NBC live TV content, then there’s no need for discussion. Premium Plus would be a better option for you.

Overall, we would choose the Premium plan to be our go-to. For a 5 dollar difference, watching 5-minute of ads per hour doesn’t seem so bad. After all, you can stream the same shows irrespective of the subscription plan. Yes, offline downloads are missing, but it’s still worth it. The local NBC TV station only matters if you’re a die-hard fan and want to stay on top of the game.

What about the free Peacock tier?

Other than the two paid options, there’s also a third option, which is especially useful for those who want to experience Peacock first or low spenders. The free Peacock plan allows you to stream Peacock without subscribing to Premium or Premium Plus, and you won’t even need to provide credit card info.

Now, what does “free” mean in this case? It means having access to a huge number of titles. But not all of them. While Premium and Premium Plus accounts get roughly the same access to content, the free tier is limited. There are certain shows and movies you can’t access, and many shows are only partially available.

For Peacock originals and plenty of other shows, the free tier functions almost as a teaser. You get access to the first few episodes, or sometimes one or more seasons, but then you have to pay to watch the rest.

For that reason, we didn’t include it in this comparison. But it’s available, and you can give it a try if it appeals to you.

FAQ