In Addition to Comedy Specials, What Other Live Events Could Netflix Attempt in Coming Years?
Slow and steady wins the race, at least for Netflix. That’s the philosophy that the world’s largest streaming service has applied diligently to its live programming offerings, which will begin this March when the service airs the Chris Rock stand-up special “Selective Outrage.”
During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that Netflix viewed live offerings as a process to build toward, not something that would come together right away.
“I would look at this as part of just like other crawl/walk/run scenarios, where we are really looking at our content that would benefit creatively for being live,” he said.
In addition to the Chris Rock special, the company recently struck a deal to become the future home of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will air live on Netflix starting in 2024. The company has also looked into live sports, but will likely not be making any considerable additions in that vein in the near future according to the company’s execs.
What are Netflix’s other options for offering live content? Here’s a list of five new live programming directions that the company could pursue in coming years:
Live Video Game Streaming
Netflix spent much of 2022 investing in its mobile games, hoping to boost low engagement numbers with those games.
Live streaming users playing those games would certainly help boost engagement numbers. It would give potential players the chance to see what gameplay is like, and would also allow Netflix to take advantage of the growing popularity of e-sports. Netflix could easily expand to live streams of non-mobile games as well, as it has a brand powerful enough to compete with companies like Twitch.
Live Reality and Game Shows
Unscripted series are something of a cheat code for media companies. They draw huge engagement from viewers, and because they require smaller special effects budgets, and don’t feature expensive TV stars, they usually cost a fraction of what it takes to produce a scripted series.
Adding a live element just helps build excitement because it gives viewers the feeling that what they’re seeing is totally real. Netflix could benefit greatly by adding live reality and game shows to its lineup, as Disney+ has done with “Dancing With the Stars.”
Live News
This would be an incredibly big reach for Netflix, as no subscription video-on-demand service currently produces and distributes live news in-house. Streamers like Peacock and Paramount+ offer live streams of affiliate stations to customers on their highest-priced tiers, but that’s as close as most services get to offering live news.
Netflix could change that. At a time when most of the major news outlets in the country are seen as highly partisan, Netflix could step in to offer a news service with coverage viewers would see as balanced.
Live Theater
Coming back to Earth a little, Netflix could look into offering live theatrical performances on its service. Companies like Fathom Events have been offering live performances of Metropolitan Opera shows for years, mostly through venues such as movie theaters.
Opera is admittedly a bit stuffy for most viewers, but Netflix doesn’t have to stop there. It could begin offering live streams of popular Broadway musicals, which often generate huge amounts of buzz but are difficult for the average entertainment lover to attend, especially outside New York. The next “Hamilton” is lurking out there somewhere, and Netflix could profit greatly if it held the live-streaming rights to such shows.
Live Episodes of Scripted Netflix Original Shows
Live episodes of scripted television are a ton of fun. They almost always include a goof or two, and their novelty often attracts hordes of curious viewers who want to see exactly how the cast or crew will screw up.
Netflix has an enormous library of original shows that it could turn into live episodes. Its new comedy “That '90s Show” would be perfect for a live format, as it already shoots in front of a studio audience. If the service wanted to try something more ambitious, it could offer a live episode of a series like “The Witcher,” which would force some truly creative thinking regarding issues like the use of special effects.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.