The change may not be very visible in France, but Netflix is in the process of making a real change. For several months, in addition to its films, series and documentaries which have made it successful, the platform has been offering live sporting events.
For the moment, these broadcasts are being done in dribs and drabs, but Netflix is very clear on this subject, it is no coincidence. Sport will take an increasingly important place on the streaming service. Because this new market, hotly contested by traditional television players, is a real gold mine for SVOD platforms.
They have already won over movie buffs, with a catalog of films and series as long as an arm, we must now turn to another audience: sports lovers. But this development comes at a cost for Netflix. The platform spent millions of dollars to acquire the broadcast rights to several sporting events, starting with the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Logan Paul.
A new market, new prices
Recently, the Christmas NFL game, a true institution in the United States, was broadcast on Netflix. In the words of analyst John Hodulik, this great first should “pave the way” for the future. The broadcast of this meeting was a huge success for Netflix with 65 million viewers on American soil.
But the arrival of sport on Netflix would have an unfortunate consequence for users, an increase in the price of subscriptions. As a reminder, the SVOD platform has not touched its prices, in the United States, since the start of 2022. An astonishing truce when we know the capacity of these competitors to change their prices every quarter or almost.
Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, is already paving the way in this direction. He said at a press conference for UBS Media that “future price increases” would be directly linked to “increased engagement and better overall value” of Netflix’s offering. In other words, we will pay more, but to see more content.
Netflix and sport: an old romance
The arrival of live sports on Netflix, although recent, is not a surprise. Before taking the plunge, the red N had already made several attempts, surveying its audience. The most famous example is the documentary series produced by Netflix around a sport.
“Drive to Survive” for Formula 1, but also “Break Point” on the world of tennis or “At the heart of the peloton” for cycling and as a highlight, the Tour de France. So many broadcasts have met with global success, pushing Netflix to try its luck in broadcasting live sport.
Competitors already in place
If Netflix was the first streaming platform to emerge globally, it is not the first to launch into live sports broadcasting. Its competitors have already set foot on this new market, which they intend to conquer before Netflix.
This is particularly the case of Amazon Prime Video, very well known in France for its broadcast of Ligue 1 and Roland Garros, but also Apple TV+ which has been offering MLS to the whole world for several months. Apple’s platform also broadcasts baseball matches, which are very popular on the other side of the Atlantic.
