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While larger SVOD rivals have built mobile experiences around television, NBCU is going native original micro-dramas and verticals, competing head-on with TikTok, YouTube and Instagram

Approaching its sixth birthday next month, Peacock continues to struggle, at least by the more visible metrics traditionally tracked for U.S. premium SVODs.

As of March 31, the NBCUniversal platform had only 46 million subscribers — it’s less than half the size of Disney+, HBO Max and Paramount+, all of which launched during roughly the same period.

And unlike those other platforms, Peacock continues to lose money — another $432 million in the first quarter alone.

Evaluated in another way, however, Peacock is leading the pack. While larger competitors have fashioned their mobile strategies mainly on apps built around television, Peacock has adopted a mobile-first approach featuring licensed micro-dramas from ReelShort, vertical highlights of the latest NBA games and NBC/Peacock series episodes, and games.

With 30% of its Love Island audience consuming the hit series on mobile, NBCU is competing head-on with TikTok, YouTube and Insta, trying to reclaim at least a portion of that audience with its new mobile experience, announced back in March and now deployed.

“While we have spent plenty of time questioning and dumping on Peacock’s $11 billion-plus of losses to date, we are fascinated by what they are building on mobile and how it goes well beyond watching movies and TV episodes,” LightShed analysts Rich Greenfield, Brandon Ross and Mark Kelly wrote on their paywalled blog last week.

NBCU, they explained, doesn’t think of Peacock as a standalone business, but rather a component within the NBC and Bravo operations.

“Disney talks about Disney+ becoming the company’s ‘immersive, interactive digital centerpiece,’ but Peacock is actually far further along in realizing that vision,” the LightShed partners added.