By Michaela Gordoni
Netflix has had great success with live events, and it seems it’s dedicated to keeping up the momentum this year and next.
The streamer will air a boxing rematch between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor on July 11. Dec. 25 will see a couple of NFL games air, Men’s Journal reported May 15.
Sports aside, it will host NETFLIX TUDUM 2025: THE LIVE EVENT later this month and will stream the 32ND ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS in March 2026.
WWE RAW and YES, EVERYBODY’S LIVE WITH JOHN MULANEY each air weekly on Netflix.
Netflix recently revealed that 18- to-34-year-olds watch Netflix more than any other network. Ad-supported viewers average 41 hours of viewing time per month.
In an effort to attract more advertisers, the platform is making tech that will expand first-party targeting tools and program options. It’s working on a generative AI ad format that will strategize smart ad placement.
Netflix boasts that viewers can download live streams or watch them after they air and can rewind, pause, play from the beginning or jump to live at any point during a live stream. Live streams can be watched on most devices where Netflix is available.
It also tells viewers to expect to see commercials during live events, which will be removed for ad-free viewers once the live event ends.
@netflix The biggest shows. The most exciting movies. And the best fans in the world. #TUDUM 2025 — a global fan celebration featuring the biggest stars — streams live on Netflix May 31 at 8pm ET | 5 pm PT.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos recently said, “Our live event strategy is unchanged, and we remain really focused on the big breakthrough events. Our audiences love them, and so anything, anything we chase, in the event space or the sports space, is a deal that has to make economic sense as well.”
He highlighted the upcoming Taylor-Serrano fight, who fought during the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson live event last year.
“It was the most watched women’s sporting event in U.S. history,” the CEO said. “So there’s a lot of excitement around that… What we have seen with live is this very outsized positives around conversation and acquisition, and we suspect retention, and we’re really excited to keep building on that.”
It would make sense for there to be concern around attention, as most of the live events are one-offs. Subscribers sign up for Netflix just for one event and then unsubscribe when it’s over. But Netflix says it hasn’t seen a lot of issues in this area.
“Retention characteristics for the members that came in for those big events was similar to members that joined for other big titles, and that continues to be the case,” said Spencer Neumann, chief financial officer. “So you know, really no meaningful changes to our retention story, which you know, no news on that front, is good news from our perspective.”
As Netflix moves toward more live events, it will be interesting to see if its subscribers stick around for the lives or its giant catalog of series and movies.
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