Peacock is now placing advertisements on your profile screen before you even hit Play

Peacock encourages brands to greet you before you even choose who is viewing.

The Verge claims that Peacock will launch a new ad type on the “Who’s watching?” profile selection screen beginning next year, putting advertising in the forefront of users’ attention as soon as they launch the app. Viewers will see a sizable promotional image next to their profile icons in place of a blank landing page.

NBCUniversal recently gave a glimpse of the appearance of these new placements, known as “arrival ads,” at a press briefing. In one example, a Capital One advertisement takes up almost the whole screen while user profiles are arranged vertically down the left side of the screen. Another example substitutes a bold graphic advertising the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the bank’s branding. The concept is straightforward: Peacock is making a strong advertising statement by utilizing previously unoccupied space.

Peacock’s Premium Plus subscribers won’t see these advertisements, according to NBCUniversal representative Andrew Bilbao. The format is “a first-of-its-kind, bold presence on a user’s profile page that allow brands to own the first impression as soon as viewers enter the platform,” according to a press statement from the company.

Peacock’s growing marketing strategy includes more than just profile screen advertisements. Additionally, the firm revealed intentions to incorporate advertisements into its mobile apps’ vertical video feed of brief segments. This enhances Peacock’s current ad formats, which already feature full-screen advertisements that pop up when viewers pause a program.

Peacock has also dabbled in what it refers to as a “binge” advertisement. A sponsored message promising that the next episode will be ad-free appears after a viewer has watched two consecutive episodes of the same show. When taken as a whole, these changes demonstrate Peacock’s ongoing investigation of novel approaches to incorporating advertising into the viewing experience.