Is Netflix Rethinking Live Sports?
By Movieguide® Contributor
While Netflix has said no to live sports programming for years, co-CEO Ted Sarandos revealed that his company might be rethinking its opinion after the success of recent events.
“We want to be able to bring value to the sport, like we have to date with WWE certainly, like we have with the NFL too, where we were basically able to bring a big audience, a young audience, a more global audience than linear television,” he said. “But that has be to reelected in the deal as well.”
This comment came during the company’s Q4 report which revealed stellar subscriber growth, largely built on live events like the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and the Christmas Day NFL games. While Netflix still views sports as a losing game in the long run due to their extremely high partnership costs, it has been building out its platform’s ability to host live events, potentially laying the groundwork for a future deal.
Some might argue that its streaming of WWE represents a real foray into live sports, but in regards to the major markets, Netflix still believes the costs are too high.
READ MORE: NETFLIX CELEBRATES NFL CHRISTMAS BROADCAST SUCCESS — AND PLANS MORE SPORTS STREAMS
“If there was a path where we could actually make the economics work, for both us and the league, we certainly would explore,” Sarandos said. “But, right now, we believe that the live events business is where we really want to be, and sports is a very important part of that, but it is a part of that expansion.”
He added, “Just, you know, not to be overly repetitive, but we’re going to be mindful of the bottom line and it’s really important that those economics work. And the big league spots, full league, full season economics, are very hard to make work.”
Matters are made worse by the fact that all the major leagues have their near futures locked away behind other streamers. The NFL is mainly available through the YouTube TV exclusive Sunday Ticket along with Thursday Night games on Prime Video, the NBA is available on Hulu and ESPN+ and the MLB, the MLS and the NHL are available on Hulu and ESPN+. Therefore, Netflix would also have to directly compete with other streaming services when airing games, further complicating the dynamics of live sports.
So, for now, the company will remain out of the competition, but maybe someday in the future, it will find a way to make the economics work.
READ MORE: NETFLIX SAID ‘NO’ TO LIVE SPORTS, BUT HAS THAT DECISION CHANGED?
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