Shortly after Rachel Smith joined the cable network Bravo, she helped greenlight what has gone down in reality-TV history as one of the most popular shows of all time: The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Flash forward to 2025, and the television executive is spearheading Peacock’s unscripted content slate as NBCUniversal Entertainment’s EVP of unscripted content, lifestyle, and documentaries. In the role, which she started in 2023, Smith has overseen several breakout hits that have helped to cement Peacock’s position as a place for reality fanatics, including The Traitors, Love Island USA, and, of course, the Real Housewives franchise and its spinoffs.
Smith, who worked on the unscripted side at BBC America and the Discovery Channel, told Marketing Brew that she’s focused on capitalizing on the power of Bravo superfans known as Bravoholics, who just might watch their favorite shows on Peacock the day after new episodes air on cable. And while some fans may want to rewatch their favorite shows over and over again, she and her team are always on the lookout for new unscripted series ideas for the streamer that are unlike the more typical reality-TV fare.
“So much of unscripted television or television is just recycling the same ideas,” she told Marketing Brew.
We spoke to Smith about her approach to building Peacock’s content slate, and why she thinks the Bravo cinematic universe and new in-person experiences are key to sustaining fandom.
Fan behavior
It’s no secret that Bravo has a diehard fanbase. Some Bravoholics flock to the annual BravoCon to see their fave Housewives cast members in person, with more than three-quarters of attendees noting in past years’ exit surveys that the convention “was the greatest day of their entire life.”
That’s a powerful fanbase, but at Peacock, it’s not just about bringing over viewers who watch on linear TV.
“We’re bringing in a discrete audience on Peacock,” Smith said. “It’s not just a duplication of the linear audience. It’s a younger audience. It’s really bringing that Bravo brand…to a much bigger audience.”
This summer and fall, Peacock is leaning into docuseries infused with some of the Bravo secret sauce: following real people during dramatic situations that Bravo is “known largely at the moment for,” she said. Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together will follow celeb couple Nelly and Ashanti navigate their relationship and careers, while Tiffany Haddish Goes Off will follow the comedian and a group of her close friends on a trip to Africa.
Peacock also has two docuseries in the Bravo world that are in active development, which were sourced from NBCU Launch’s inaugural Unscripted Pitch Accelerator program last year, Smith said. While many of the details remain under wraps, Smith described the shows as representing “really good, fresh ideas” and noting that the program is an effort to democratize the development process.
Feeling faithful
Peacock’s other unscripted shows have found ways to capitalize on the Bravo fervor. The competition show The Traitors features castmembers from various Bravo properties, including Tom Sandoval from Vanderpump Rules who will go down in infamy for Scandoval. The castmembers’ personal brands and followings have helped drum up interest for the show, and the third season, which debuted in January, was the most-watched unscripted series in the US at the time of its premiere, per NBCU. Of the reality series on Peacock, The Traitors is Smith’s favorite, she told us.
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Beyond castmembers’ personal promotion of the shows they’re involved in, the streamer designs marketing plans during the first seasons to help build awareness of new series. Smith pointed to Bravo’s Southern Hospitality, which has become a smash hit over three seasons thanks, in part, to aggressive marketing and social posting: episodes of the show’s third season, according to Deadline, saw a 58% audience increase on Peacock compared to the second season.
“There’s a lot of competition for eyeballs, Smith said. “So we need to lean in and really let the world know that this first show is here, whether it’s a new season of Housewives or a new iteration…We will definitely lean in with a bigger marketing push for a first-season show.”
Love (Island) is in the air
Experiential activations are increasingly key to helping to keep reality fans coming back for more on Peacock, she said. (It’s a strategy other streamers have embraced as well.) This summer, Peacock is rolling out The Traitors: Live Experience in London, where participants will, much like the show, go on missions and figure out who the “traitors” in their group might be. This month, Peacock is hosting pop-up villas based on Love Island USA on the Jersey Shore, as well as in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Diego, California, that encourage attendees to record their own audition tapes while also promoting Season 7 of the series.
And of course, there’s BravoCon, which is set to return for its fifth year in Las Vegas this November.
“BravoCon is a wonderful way to open up that universe to our fans and invite them in,” Smith said. “They feel like they know these people.”