The US video streaming market is the largest in the world. And while many of its streaming services are available in Australia, most are still region-locked to the US. That includes the new streaming service Peacock. Carrying popular NBC content like 30 Rock and SNL, Peacock is a great service…if you can get it. Thankfully, you can if you’re in Australia. If you’re wondering how to watch Peacock in Australia, the simple solution is a VPN. For that, we recommend ExpressVPN.
We’ll explain how a VPN like ExpressVPN works and how you can use it to watch Peacock in Australia for free.
ExpressVPN: The Best VPN to Watch Peacock in Australia
ExpressVPN is a leading VPN provider that allows you to bypass geographic content blocking restrictions. These restrictions typically exist so that the owners of various content can license that content in different regions for different amounts. Quite often, if a service like Peacock is unavailable in Australia it’s because that company’s content is already licensed to another provider.
Services like Peacock utilize extremely strict geographic content blocking methods. They’ll detect your location and prevent you from accessing content if you’re trying to connect from the wrong region. At present, very few VPNs can bypass the strict geo-blocking technology that Peacock’s service employs. ExpressVPN is one of them.
VPN services like ExpressVPN are completely legal to use in almost every country. You can use it to access any service that’s legally available. And since Peacock is free, you don’t even have to worry about trying to find a US-based payment card to create an account.
Core ExpressVPN Benefits
- 30-day money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN doesn’t have a free trial, but it does extend a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll pay up front to use the service, but ExpressVPN will issue quickly issue a no-questions-asked refund any time within the first 30 days upon request. Comparatively, some VPN providers have either short 7-day free trials, or offer no refunds.
- Discounts and deals available. ExpressVPN provides discounts for longer subscription terms. A month-by-month subscription is $12.95 per month, but you’ll sizable discounts for 6-month and 12-month subscriptions. Click here to find out more.
- 160 server locations in 94 countries. A high-quality VPN service offers a large number of VPN server options. ExpressVPN providers thousands of servers in 160 locations. There are hundreds of servers in the US, giving you plenty of options to find a fast server for streaming Peacock in Australia.
- Strict no-logs policy. Don’t want the world to know who you are? ExpressVPN keeps no logs of your activity or location. Everything is anonymous. ExpressVPN’s strict anonymity protocols have even been verified after police found no usable data on an ExpressVPN server.
- Fast customer support. ExpressVPN offers fast chat support for customers. Just give them your email address and their knowledgeable support staff will get your problem solved in minutes. You can also use support to find a working server to bypass Peacock and other content restrictions in Australia.
- Simultaneous device streaming. You’re not restricted to just one device with ExpressVPN. Install and use your ExpressVPN service on up to 5 devices at once.
You can watch Peacock in Australia with ExpressVPN, but you’re not restricted to just Peacock. The service will unblock other US-based streaming services and content libraries, including CBS All Access, American Netflix, Hulu, and more.
How to Get Peacock in Australia with ExpressVPN
You can sign up for ExpressVPN and get streaming on Peacock in seconds. We’ll walk you through the process to show you how to get started.
Step 1: Sign Up for ExpressVPN
First, visit the ExpressVPN website to snag three free months of ExpressVPN service with a 12-month subscription. Just click on the Get ExpressVPN link on the homepage.
Step 2: Download and Install the ExpressVPN Client
Once you’ve created your account, you’ll get a confirmation email that allows you to sign in. Sign in to get access to the user dashboard, where you’ll find the available download files for different operating systems.
Pick the operating system for the device you intend to use. ExpressVPN works on almost any device you might want to use.
There are ExpressVPN apps for:
- Windows
- Mac
- Linux
- Chromebook
- iPhone, iPad, iPod
- Android
- Amazon Fire TV Kindle Fire
- Apple TV
- Xbox
- PlayStation
- Some smart home devices
- MediaStreamer
- Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Routers
ExpressVPN also has manual configuration options and available documentation to help with the setup process.
Once you’ve installed your ExpressVPN client, you’ll need your activation code. The activation code is available through your ExpressVPN dashboard. Copy/paste and the activation code into the box to get started.
After you’ve successfully installed and activated your ExpressVPN client, it should look something like this (on Windows or Mac):
The interface may vary on different devices.
Step 3: Connect to a Peacock-Compatible Server
Now that you have ExpressVPN installed, it’s time to get everything set up to work with Peacock.
- In ExpressVPN, click on the “Smart Locations” button, then enter the country name (United States).
- You can click on the arrow to the right of the country name to get a list of server locations or click on the country name to automatically connect to the fastest server. (There may be times where you need to connect to a specific server. ExpressVPN chat support can help you determine which server works best for different streaming services).
- Once you’re connected, the power button on the main screen of the interface will shine green to indicate a successful connection.
You’re now done and ready to connect to and watch Peacock in Australia!
Trying to Watch Peacock in Australia without a VPN
Don’t believe Peacock is blocked in Australia? Here’s an example of what happens when you try to connect to stream Peacock in Australia without a VPN.
When you type “Peacock.tv” into your web browser from Australia, this is what you’ll see:
And here’s what Peacock’s website will show when you’re connected to an ExpressVPN server in the US:
Success! You’re in!
How to Sign Up for Peacock in Australia
Important: You cannot sign up for Peacock in Australia without a VPN! As shown in the above section, Peacock will block your Australia-based connection to the site completely. That means you can’t sign up at all without a bypass.
Connect to an ExpressVPN server in the US first. Then, follow these sign-up instructions.
- Go to peacock.tv
- Click on the link that says “Start Watching Now”
- Enter your email address and a password for your new Peacock account
- Click “Create Account”.
You’re done! You can now stream Peacock’s content in Australia. Just click on “Start Watching”.
Can I Access the Full Peacock Library in Australia?
Now that you have access to Peacock in Australia, you’ll notice that there are some limitations. While Peacock offers a large library of free content, much of what’s available is gated for those with a paid account.
Can you create a paid account if you’re from Australia? Yes…but only if you have a US-based payment method. Barring that, you’ll just need to live with the restrictions, which include a more limited library, advertisements, limited or no access to Peacock original content, and limited or no access to live TV and sports.
Peacock Features and Content
Peacock was NBCUniversal’s answer to CBS All Access. Both NBC and CBS have been creating and delivering high-quality TV content for decades. Both have now made their large libraries of content available through their own streaming services.
Unfortunately, like CBS All Access, Peacock is not available in Australia. There’s also no current information on whether Peacock will be made available in Australia. To that end, the only way to get access to it is by connecting to a VPN.
Here are a few of the benefits you’ll find with Peacock.
A free subscription plan
This might be one of the best reasons to use Peacock. You can create an account for free. Unlike most services, you don’t even need to enter a payment card or payment information to stream content. All you need to do is sign up with your email address. That means if you can bypass the geographic content restrictions in Australia, you can easily sign up and watch for free.
Popular and iconic shows
Peacock’s content is vast and includes some of NBC’s greatest and best-rated TV shows and movies. You’ll have free access to the top-rated 90s sitcom Friends. Peacock is also going to be the new home for The Office once it officially leaves Netflix. There’s also other major hits, like Parks and Recreation, Pysch, 30 Rock, Downton Abbey, Law and Order, This Is Us, and so much more.
Live news
You can watch live TV news with Peacock. Under the “Channels” section of the service, you can watch NBC News, CNBC, Sky News and more. There are also channels for reality TV, shows, and many other categories.
24-Hour Live TV
Similar to services like Xumo and PlutoTV, Peacock offers 24-hour live TV channels for different types of content. For example, there’s a Saturday Night Live channel showing all SNL, all day long.
Sports
NBC provides access to live sports, even with its free tier. Access is more limited with the free option, but you’ll find live and on-demand replays for Premier League soccer, tennis, NFL games, and others. There’s also sports documentary content available, such as In Deep with Ryan Lochte, I am Ali, Long Way Home and others.
Even without access to every game for major sports, Peacock provides tons of highlight videos and mini replays.
Related: Peacock Review in 2021 – Will Free Cut Through the Clutter?
Peacock TV Guide: What’s on Peacock?
Although Peacock offers a TV guide for its live TV channels, you may not want to switch to its small screen while trying to watch your live TV content. Instead, try the light-weight Flixed TV Guide for Peacock. Use your mobile device or any device with a web browser to peruse every show currently airing on Peacock, or adjust the settings to see what’s coming up in the next few hours or days.
The Peacock TV Guide from Flixed also offers detailed information for each TV show, and a color-coded background to help you quickly distinguish between TV shows, movies, and sports content.
Why Is Peacock Blocking Australians?
Peacock is fully owned and operated by NBCUniversal, which itself is owned by Comcast. The company has a large amount of content. Much of that content is tied up in licensing agreements with other services in Australia. For example, The Office is available in Australia through Foxtel Now, Stan., and Amazon Prime Video. Parks and Recreation is licensed to BiNGE, Foxtel Now, Prime Video, Stan., and iView.
Almost anything NBC popularly owns, you’ll find is already licensed elsewhere. Most of those contracts are likely in place for a year or more outward. So if Peacock does plan to come to Australia, it’ll likely be a while down the road, once Peacock is able to pull back its licensing agreements (or let them expire). It’ll also likely be once Peacock has larger selection of original content users can’t find anywhere else.
How Does Peacock Block Australians?
When you connect any device you own to the web, it’s assigned what’s known as an IP address. An IP address works similarly to a street address on the web. When you connect to a website, that website has an address, and your device has an address.
Websites can determine your IP address once you form that connection. In effect, they know exactly where you’re coming from.
Peacock and most streaming services now implement geographic blocking methods that detect your IP address, determine the location of the user, and block select content for that user. In the case of Peacock, it’s not just select content that’s blocked. The entire website is blocked if you’re trying to access it with an Australia-based IP address.
Can Peacock Block VPNs?
There are some VPNs that Peacock is able to easily block. Many free VPNs will not effectively bypass Peacock’s geographic content blocking method. Free VPNs often lack the technology to effectively bypass more stringent VPN blocking methods. This is why a free VPN will never work to bypass Netflix content blocking, for example.
The reason some VPNs don’t work is that some services, like Peacock, will look for location data beyond just the IP address. And some will look for tell-tale signs of a VPN connection, then block any IP address that looks like it may be connected to a VPN service.
ExpressVPN utilizes tools and software that will not only mask your true location, but remove the identifying markers of a VPN connection. This makes it easy to bypass Peacock’s blocking methods, without triggering any blocks based on being connected to a proxy.
Sam Cook is a full-time content strategist by day, a part-time freelance content writer since 2015. In another life, he was a high school English teacher for nearly a decade. Based in sunny New Orleans, he writes long-form educational content on technology, including Insurtech, Fintech, HRtech, and content streaming. He loves whittling down complex ideas within these areas that make decisions easier for buyers. When he’s not reading books with his son Miles and playing video games with the family, you can find him immersed in his growing collection of Euro-style board games.
