Netflix\u00a0is trying to get ready for some football.<\/p>\n
The streaming giant has been reaching out to broadcasters this week in the hopes of finding a partner to produce the NFL games it will air on Christmas Day this year, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix will show two games on Christmas Day this year, followed by at least one matchup in both 2025 and 2026, the company\u00a0announced last month.<\/p>\n
This is Netflix\u2019s first real foray into traditional live sports, driven by the company\u2019s ambitions to grow its advertising tier. The company signed a deal earlier this year with WWE to be the home for its live \u201cRaw\u201d events, but Netflix dubbed that deal as \u201csports entertainment.\u201d Unlike WWE, Netflix\u2019s deal for Christmas NFL games doesn\u2019t come with a full production team. That\u2019s left the streamer looking for help.<\/p>\n
Netflix has been in touch with the broadcasters that currently air NFL games, including\u00a0Disney\u2019s\u00a0ESPN,\u00a0Comcast\u2019s\u00a0NBCUniversal and\u00a0Paramount Global\u2019s\u00a0CBS Sports, said the people familiar, who asked not to be named because the discussions have been private. Disney won\u2019t produce the games because it already has college football obligations the same day, two of the people said.<\/p>\n
In-depth discussions haven\u2019t begun with the other broadcasters, but Netflix\u2019s options may be somewhat limited.<\/p>\n
Fox and CBS Sports already produce various games in different regions each week, which could make taking on additional games for Netflix a burden, some of the people said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also competition to consider.<\/p>\n
Amazon\u00a0inked a deal with NBCUniversal to\u00a0produce its NFL games\u00a0before its first season of \u201cThursday Night Football\u201d in 2022, but there may be more resistance among current NFL partners to help out Netflix, according to people familiar with the matter. That\u2019s because Netflix could be auditioning as a future long-term media rights partner for NFL games in place of a legacy media company, such as Paramount,\u00a0Fox\u00a0or NBC.<\/p>\n
The NFL has an\u00a0out clause\u00a0in its current media contracts that allows it to select new media partners after the 2029-30 season.<\/p>\n
Representatives for Netflix, the NFL, NBCUniversal, CBS, ESPN and Fox declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Netflix announced its entry into the NFL in mid-May\u00a0ahead\u00a0of its Upfront presentation, when it tried to woo advertisers for its burgeoning ad-supported platform. Netflix said last month\u00a0it has reached\u00a040 million global active users for its advertising tier, which costs $6.99 per month in the U.S. and debuted in November 2022.<\/p>\n
In May, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told CNBC that the NFL was the right fit for Netflix because it matched the streamer\u2019s event strategy \u2014 effectively allowing Netflix to own the day. Netflix will pay the NFL roughly $75 million per game, CNBC previously\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n
For the NFL, Netflix represents the chance to reach a global, younger audience. There\u2019s also the potential to lay the groundwork for Netflix to become a future bidder on a larger package of games.<\/p>\n
The NFL signed\u00a0long-term deals in 2021\u00a0with Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Fox and Amazon for its five primary packages of games.<\/p>\n
While there is some trepidation among current media partners to produce games for a potential rival, pressure from the league \u2014 and a hefty paycheck from Netflix \u2014 could convince broadcasters to strike a deal, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere aren\u2019t that many players in the space who are capable of doing this at a level that you would want to trust when you\u2019re launching as a new partner with a league as important as the NBA or the NFL,\u201d said Shirin Malkani, co-chair of the sports industry group at law firm Perkins Coie, adding that the production side \u201ccan be a big hole for streaming partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netflix and the league are looking to mirror the partnership that Amazon\u2019s Prime Video lined up with Comcast\u2019s NBC Sports for \u201cThursday Night Football\u201d games.<\/p>\n
While NBC Sports\u2019 Fred Gaudelli produced the 2022 season of \u201cThursday Night Football,\u201d\u00a0Amazon appointed Mark Teitelman, one of its own employees, to the role of lead game producer in 2023.<\/p>\n
Amazon produces all of its pregame, halftime and postgame coverage, but NBC Sports is in charge of the extensive production work that goes into an NFL game, and employs the vast majority of those workers.<\/p>\n
Netflix is interested in finding a similar partner, according to people familiar with its plans.<\/p>\n
If a deal can\u2019t be made with one of the incumbents, Netflix could find other options with third-party producers. Endeavor Group Holdings\u2019 IMG is the production partner for Major League Soccer, which is offered through\u00a0Apple.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to do an NFL game at a level that people are used to watching, which is a very high level and well produced,\u201d said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investment. \u201cBut there\u2019s a number of options out there that can pull it together without [Netflix] having a fully staffed sports division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amazon Prime Video was the first streamer to obtain exclusive rights to NFL games as the league pushed to broaden its media partners and have more streaming offerings to widen its audience.<\/p>\n
Amazon reached its deal to carry \u201cThursday Night Football\u201d in 2021 in conjunction with the rest of the media rights deals for the NFL \u2014 an 11-year\u00a0media rights agreement\u00a0worth over $100 billion, with an opt out clause at the seven-year mark.<\/p>\n
Given the recent NBA media rights negotiations, which are beckoning top dollar from various media companies, many in and around the industry expect the NFL to exercise the clause and look for new partners.<\/p>\n
Since the NFL has inked its deal, streaming services for Comcast, ESPN and Paramount have begun to simultaneously stream games, and in some cases, hosted games exclusively.\u00a0Alphabet\u2019s\u00a0YouTube TV is also the\u00a0new home\u00a0of the \u201cSunday Ticket\u201d package of games.<\/p>\n
Sports, particularly the NFL, have been the glue holding the traditional TV bundle together \u2014 and have also proved to be a boost to streaming.\u00a0NBCUniversal said in April\u00a0its exclusive NFL wild-card game on Peacock helped to add, and then retain, more customers than expected.<\/p>\n
The league has been vocal in its push to add more streaming partners in an effort to widen its audience.<\/p>\n
That was the thinking behind the deal with Netflix to stream these Christmas Day games.<\/p>\n
When the \u201cSunday Ticket\u201d rights negotiations were underway,\u00a0NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC\u00a0the longtime package offered only by DirecTV would move to streaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s best for consumers at this stage,\u201d Goodell said at the time.<\/p>\n
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Netflix\u00a0is trying to get ready for some football. The streaming giant has been reaching out to broadcasters this week in the hopes of finding a partner to produce the NFL games it will air on Christmas Day this year, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix will show two games on Christmas Day this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}