Peacock’s Super Bowl Launch of ‘The Burbs’ Is Paying Off Handsomely

Launching a series on the same day as the biggest TV event of the year might not seem like the wisest strategy. But when the show is on the same platform as that huge event, it turns out the idea can work.

Case in point: The Burbs, which premiered as a binge release on Peacock on Feb. 8. The streamer also carried the Super Bowl along with NBC that day, and between them (and Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo, also part of NBCUniversal) had 125 million viewers who saw several promos for the series, a reworking of the 1989 Tom Hanks movie that stars Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall. The series also received a push in NBCUniversal’s Winter Olympics coverage.

The strategy has paid off well, with The Burbs having one of the best opening weeks to date for a Peacock scripted series. The eight-episode season drew 712 million minutes of viewing for the week of Feb.