For a company with little interest in major sports rights, Netflix sure talks a lot about sports – enough that we’re starting to wonder if its tip-toeing through the sports tulips will at some point become a prance that accelerates into a full-fledged sprint. We’re not there yet, of course. But while Netflix’s relatively error-free stream of two NFL games on Christmas Day didn’t draw quite the crowd as its Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing spectacle on Nov. 15, it did attract just over 24 million viewers for each game, with the Ravens-Texans matchup faring slightly better than the Chiefs-Steelers (If only Taylor had shown up to counter Beyonce.) Netflix also released global numbers, with Ravens-Texans at 31.3 million and Chiefs-Steelers at 30 million, putting it slightly below the 65 million that braved occasional glitches to watch Tyson-Paul. Fewer reports of problems on Christmas, however, as Netflix appears to be getting better at managing live streaming events in what it called “a record-breaking day for Netflix and the NFL” that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria deemed “the best Christmas gift we could have delivered.” Recall that this is the first year of a three-year deal to stream NFL games on Christmas Day. Netflix is just getting started. But how far will it go?
That, in essence, is the question as Netflix graduates from live hot-dog eating contests and gimmicky boxing matches to take on traditional broadcasters and ESPN that have typically dominated NFL football games. The pieces are lining up nicely as the streamer hones its live capabilities. Next week, Netflix will start weekly live installments of WWE Monday Night Raw whose first episode on Jan. 6 from Inglewood, CA, features a special appearance by John Cena as part of his farewell tour and graduation to Hollywood. Travis Scott will also perform a new WWE theme song. The bottom line: Netflix wants to make a splash that will ripple out for the rest of 2025 and beyond. We’ve mentioned this before, but isn’t it interesting that WWE owner TKO Group Holdings also owns combat sports league UFC, whose current deal with Disney’s ESPN just so happens to expire at the end of this year? Disney’s exclusive negotiating window with UFC expires on April 15 when Netflix will be several months into its WWE streams and likely through any initial kinks. Could Netflix drop kick its way into those negotiations? Perhaps. But the mere prospect of a Netflix or another well-funded streamer like Amazon making a big UFC offer could also incentivize Disney to make something happen before the competition arrives. No doubt that TKO will play up the potential of counterbids after April 15 during negotiations. Grab the popcorn.
Next? To really understand what Netflix is up to (and granted, no one truly knows for sure), it’s wise to look beyond the streaming numbers and explore the ancillary benefits. Netflix nabbed 1.43 million sign-ups around the Paul-Tyson fight, according to Antenna, so it seems plausible to expect around the same bump from the similarly streamed NFL games on Dec. 25. Not only that, but high-profile events – whether one offs like Paul-Tyson or ongoing series such as WWE Raw – produce buzz that can pay intangible dividends for customer acquisition and retention (not to mention advertiser interest for Netflix’s ad-supported tier). Netflix reports that its Christmas NFL games amassed more than 1 billion impressions across Netflix and NFL social media handles on various platforms. Meanwhile, the Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans games made Netflix’s Global Top 10 in 72 and 62 countries, respectively. Considering that most of the viewership was in the U.S., that’s somewhat impressive. The games reached 218 countries in total.
Netflix’s approach to sports has been measured at best, and executives haven’t indicated they’re ready to spend tens of billions to offer the breadth of coverage available on broadcast TV or ESPN. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos famously declared in 2022 that “we’re not anti-sports, we’re just pro-profit” in explaining why Netflix liked the sidelines. But that was before the company dropped $5 billion in a 10-year deal with WWE. Last month, Sarandos told The Wall Street Journal that Netflix “could make it work” when it can add value back to the sports equation. It appears that the company is figuring all of that out right now, anchoring its ongoing education on weekly WWE matches and other livestream events that increase its credibility as a “broadcaster” of sorts. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Season 2 of “Squid Game” dropped the day after those Christmas NFL matchups. Talk about unnecessary roughness..
