What Does Netflix Mean When It Says It Wants to ‘Netflix-ify’ Christmas NFL Games?
Netflix is taking its first turn as an NFL broadcaster very seriously. In May, the league announced a deal to stream two Christmas Day games on Netflix, marrying the most popular sport in the United States with the world’s largest streaming service for the first time. Speaking at the Financial Times (FT) Business of Entertainment Summit on Friday, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters gave some additional details about what fans can expect for his company’s first try at offering live NFL games.
Key Details:
- Peters says the plan is to “Netflix-ify” the Christmas NFL broadcasts.
- Alternate broadcasts and cross-promotions of NFL shows like “Quarterback” and “Receiver” seem likely.
- Peters also said Netflix would keep an eye out for future sports deals that make sense on the business side.
There’s certainly a tenor of excitement from Netflix regarding its two Christmas 2024 games. Peters made clear that his streamer would try to make the holiday games an entire day-long event, and hinted that it could be packed with stars of other Netflix properties.
“We plan to Netflix-ify [the games] a little bit,” Peters said. “So we’ll plan to have a little bit of stuff around the games with our talent, stuff like that, that’ll hopefully make it super fun.”
That was essentially the only specific Peters offered while speaking about Netflix’s plans for its NFL streams, but even that gives us some room to speculate on what “Netflix-ify” means. To start with, there seems like a great opportunity for Netflix to cross-promote shows like “Quarterback” and “Receiver,” which each feature marquee NFL stars at their respective positions.
Will players featured in those shows make an appearance on special alternative broadcasts set up by Netflix? Alt casts are all the rage these days, as streaming makes it much easier for programmers to create multiple commentary teams to let viewers choose how they want to watch. Watching NFL stars talk about the game from a perspective most fans don’t get to hear often is always fascinating, and Netflix has plenty of opportunities to go off-the-wall here; how entertaining would it be to hear the mostly-British cast of “Bridgerton” try to comment on an NFL game in progress?
I doubt Netflix will go full Nickelodeon and pack its streams with digital slime or some Netflix-specific gimmick, but what about embedding talent from its top shows as sideline reporters? The cast of “Stranger Things” could be employed to give updates throughout the games, which could help lure a younger audience and would also help promote the fact that the show’s fifth season is finally expected to be released in 2025. Who knows, Netflix might try to harness a captive NFL audience to show the first teaser for the final season.
Will Netflix Add More Live Sports in the Future?
In the past, Netflix often took the position that it was not the best outlet for gigantic sports deals. It was far more interested in making entertainment than offering live events, but in recent years that has begun to change. A Joe Rogan comedy special and a hot dog-eating contest featuring world champion Joey Chestnut are just two recent examples of the increasing inventory of live events on Netflix.
Peters said the company would be on the lookout for more live sports deals, though he cautioned Netflix would be very careful with its bottom line in its pursuits.
“Having ‘Thursday Night Football’ or the NBA or things like that, we’d love to do those things,” Peters said. “It would be amazing. We also want to do it in a way that works for the business and those have been typically challenging deals to go and do and make it work for the business.”
He also noted that major sports leagues are mostly locked into contracts that will keep them with their current broadcast partners well into the 2030s, so the opportunity to make a splashy deal will have to wait a while. But it still represents a significant shift in philosophy — or at the very least tone — from Netflix’s seeming refusal to entertain doing business with top sports leagues that seemed so prevalent a few years ago.
Netflix
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