Netflix is betting on live sports to bolster its advertising tier, expanding its NFL package to five games per year and adding the league's annual awards show in a new four-year agreement.
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Netflix Inks 4-Year NFL Deal for 5 Annual Games
Netflix Inc. is deepening its investment in live sports, securing rights to stream five National Football League games per season and the annual NFL Honors awards show in a four-year extension of its partnership with the league. The deal signals a strategic focus on high-profile "event" programming to attract the large, simultaneous audiences coveted by advertisers.
The move reflects Netflix's evolving strategy, which prioritizes marquee live events over acquiring full-season sports packages. "We are not bidding on whole seasons for sports, including the NFL," Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said recently, emphasizing the company's focus on creating major cultural moments. This approach aims to build out the company's advertising business, which has seen ad-supported sign-ups account for over 60 percent of new subscribers in relevant markets.
Under the new agreement, which runs through the 2029-2030 season, Netflix will more than double its previous offering of two Christmas Day games. The expanded schedule includes an international game in Australia during Week 1, a new Thanksgiving Eve game, and a game in the final weeks of the regular season, in addition to the two holiday contests. The deal also grants Netflix exclusive worldwide streaming rights for the NFL Honors, the league's awards presentation, which previously aired on the Super Bowl's broadcast network and averaged 3.7 million viewers for its latest edition.
The expansion puts Netflix in more direct competition with media giants like The Walt Disney Co., whose ESPN division has traditionally dominated sports broadcasting. While Disney builds out its streaming profitability through a vast portfolio of sports rights and intellectual property, Netflix is taking a more curated approach. By acquiring rights to specific high-interest games—some of which were relinquished by ESPN—and sports-adjacent content like WWE programming, Netflix is making a calculated wager that it can capture significant advertising revenue without the massive overhead of a full sports network. The success of this strategy will depend on whether these event-driven viewership spikes can sustain and grow its advertising tier, which now serves more than 4,000 clients.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
