Is Netflix Only Interested in Sports That Promote its Other Content?
As the world’s largest streamer prepares to host a boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, its live sports strategy is becoming clear.
The rumors are true! Netflix is gearing up to offer its next live sporting event: a boxing match between YouTube star Jake Paul and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. The fight is coming to Netflix on July 20, and it’s just the latest example of the streamer’s emerging strategy of using live sports events to promote its on-demand content.
- All of Netflix’s live sports offerings thus far have been related to an on-demand title on the streamer in some way.
- The streamer has been connected to Formula 1 racing in the past, and has also reportedly shown interest in acquiring its own sports league.
- Paramount CEO Bob Bakish recently estimated that 90% of the people who come to his streamer to watch sports spend most of their time watching non-sports content.
Despite Netflix’s status as the world’s largest and most profitable streaming service, it has been highly dubious of adding live sporting events in a meaningful way. There’s been no pursuit of live NFL rights by Netflix, and though it was rumored to have interest in a package of NBA games in that league’s next broadcasting deal, it eventually spread the word that those rumors had no basis in fact.
While other streaming services rush to figure out how to bypass the cable bundle to bring sports to customers, Netflix is continuing to create its own path. Its grand plan seems to be to pursue sports that will help promote content already available on the streamer; for example, the Paul vs. Tyson match will undoubtedly be used to cross-promote “Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child,” a documentary about the YouTuber-turned-fighter. Its recent Carlos Alcaraz vs. Rafael Nadal tennis match steers subscribers to the service’s tennis docuseries “Break Point.” Netflix’s first-ever sporting event was its Netflix Cup golf tournament, featuring participants from its golf series “Full Swing” and its Formula 1 series “Drive to Survive.”
Plainly, Netflix thinks that if it’s going to spend the money to get live sports on its platform — even for these one-off events — it had better be enjoying some corporate synergies at the same time. In 2022, the streamer reportedly bid on a package of Formula 1 races as it was already the home to hit docuseries “Drive to Survive,” and its acquisition of the rights to weekly broadcasts of “WWE Raw” starting in 2025 could easily lead to a wide variety of original content built around wrestling. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has made it very clear that he considers the WWE deal to be more about “sports entertainment” than actual sports, but it’s still the closest the streamer has come to adding a regular live sports event.
Is Netflix’s Strategy With Live Sports a Smart Play?
Netflix has reportedly considered purchasing whole sports leagues like the World Surf League, in order to leverage the power of its industry-dominating platform to create a home-grown flywheel of content. But is it wise for the streamer to use sports not as crown jewel programming, but merely as a driver for its other titles?
According to data shared by Paramount CEO Bob Bakish, the answer is a resounding yes. Bakish talked a bit about the success of live sports on Paramount+ in late February, saying that 90% of the audience who came to the streamer specifically to watch sports spent 90% of their time on the service watching non-sports content. The data point shows that sports can indeed be a powerful draw to get users in the door, while also steering them to other titles once they’re in.
Indeed, Netflix is the only platform that can afford to treat live sports as essentially an afterthought. Many streamers use their live sports rights as differentiators to help customers tell them apart from the competition. But Netflix is already such a powerful brand that it doesn’t need this type of differentiation; the strength of its original shows and its catalog of on-demand content has left an indelible mark on consumers, and that’s what audiences associate with the streamer first. Netflix could refuse to ever offer a live sporting event again, and not worry that its subscribers would abandon it en masse. Can platforms like Paramount+ or Peacock say the same?
Every other streamer is trying to chase Netflix’s success these days, and most are trying to use their marquee live sports to engage new subscribers. As usual, Netflix’s strategy is a few steps ahead of the competition; its live sports offerings have been carefully curated to promote specific on-demand titles in its catalog, and that pattern is continuing with the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight currently scheduled to appear on the streamer this July.
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.