Want to See How Streaming Services Will Change in 2025? Check Your Phone.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Your favorite streaming app may soon no longer be just a "streaming app" per se but an overall entertainment app that functions as a cross-medium platform of its own--and a necessity on both your smartphone and smart TV. On Monday, Peacock, the NBCUniversal service that catapulted off a successful 2024 to become one of the most popular streamers in the world, rolled out a bunch of new goodies in its latest mobile update, part of the testing phase for a gradual expansion of platform features. Subscribers will now have access to a significant array of pilot programs: new engines for discovery and for personalized recommendations, bonus clips for beloved shows, and even NBC-themed "mini-games" that will be updated daily to adapt to the latest broadcasts in the sports and reality-TV schedules. "After presenting the Paris Olympics on Peacock and testing interactive features like'Choose Your Reality' for shows like Real Housewives, we've learned that fans want to have options in their viewing experience and dive deeper into their favorite content," John Jelley, senior vice president of product and user experience at Peacock, told me. He added that the platform is "piloting new features" to allow users to interact with sports and TV shows "so they can indulge their obsessions in a way that's fun, super simple, and all in one place."