Netflix Just Announced its First Live Sporting Event, But Peacock and Paramount+ Shouldn’t be Worried Yet
It was only a matter of time before the world’s biggest streamer dipped its toe into live sports. Netflix appears to be doing just that, as it was reported earlier this week that the service is in the planning stages of an exclusive celebrity golf tournament that will feature players from its shows “Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing.”
It’s understandable to think that the entrance of Netflix into the world of live sports streaming would set off alarm bells for smaller streaming services that already carry live sports, like Peacock and Paramount+. After all, Netflix has over 100 million more global customers than Paramount+ and over 200 million more than Peacock at last count. It’s also the only streaming service that regularly makes a profit, a goal that Paramount+ and Peacock can’t even sniff right now. That means that Netflix’s pockets for pursuing live sports rights are quite deep.
Despite that fact, streaming executives at NBCUniversal and Paramount shouldn’t lose any sleep over Netflix’s expansion into live sports just yet. The biggest reason for this is that both services have the NFL locked up for the next decade. Nielsen data from last year shows that 82 of the top 100 most-watched broadcasts in 2022 were NFL games, and NBC and Paramount have their current NFL broadcasting contracts in place until the conclusion of the 2032-33 season.
That means that Netflix will have to wait at least a decade to potentially get its hands on NFL games. In the meantime, Paramount+ streams the NFL every Sunday on its Premium tier, which carries a livestream of local CBS affiliates in all major U.S. markets. Peacock simulcasts all broadcasts of “Sunday Night Football,” and will get two streaming-exclusive NFL contests this year; one regular season, and one playoff game.
It’s not just the NFL that will keep these two streamers humming while Netflix tries to establish itself as a destination for live sports, either. Paramount+ offers UEFA Champions League Soccer, as well as other top sporting events on CBS like golf, NCAA basketball (including the March Madness tournament), college football, bull riding, and much more. Peacock gets the English Premier League, IndyCar racing, Big Ten and Notre Dame football, tennis, golf, cycling… oh, and did we mention every single event of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris?
Netflix still has to get livestreaming down from a technical aspect before it can think about making a meaningful expansion into live sports. The service’s attempt at streaming a live reunion special for its reality TV series “Love is Blind” was an abject disaster, as many users were unable to access the stream for more than an hour after it went on the air. That was a comparatively low-stakes problem for the company; if it gets the rights to a live sporting event from a major professional league and botches it, Netflix would have an incredibly expensive problem on its hands.
That’s why streamers like Peacock and Paramount+ can rest easy, for now. Netflix has to walk before it can run when it comes to live streaming, and so far it can barely roll over. It also can’t get its hands on the NFL for another decade, so while Netflix might get more creative when it comes to finding niche sports rights it can bid on, it won’t become a major player in sports streaming overnight.
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.