Netflix Doesn’t Need To Go All-In On Live Sports To Be Major Player

Where Netflix was once (not long ago) seen as a confusing player in the sports TV conversation, the service has spent the last couple of years securing its unique place within that ecosystem — all without over-leveraging itself on rights fees the same way nearly every competitor has.

Docuseries endeavors like Drive To Survive (F1) and The Last Dance (co-produced with ESPN Films) gave way to celebrity golf events as a way for Netflix to dip their toes into live-streaming sports. Then came the WWE Monday Night Raw deal earlier this year. And of course, the surprising move to carry the NFL’s two Christmas Day games.

In between, Netflix has also stuck to its docuseries guns, including relatively successful projects like Quarterback and Wide Receiver. And come this October, Starting 5, a series focusing on five NBA stars headlined by LeBron James. While I personally always saw something like this being a great pairing with live NBA games, perhaps Netflix is simply finding a better way to do live sports. Primarily, by not doing them.

Jimmy Butler
Anthony Edwards
LeBron James
Domantas Sabonis
Jayson Tatum

Starting 5, a new Netflix Sports series, will follow their 2023-24 season on and off the court. Coming October 9. pic.twitter.com/8tvPzMFizr

— Netflix (@netflix) August 28, 2024

We’ve recently made the case that Netflix already has the upper hand with streaming competitors, and that’s only growing as they all pursue different levels of consolidation while also licensing out inventory. So if Netflix is the “essential” service in a sea of options, then there’s a chance shows like Starting 5 could get just as many (if not more) eyeballs than many live, non-NFL games. While they cost money to produce, they’re still not as much as live games. And yet, they’re potentially more valuable than those rights because they don’t rely on live viewing.

That has always been the draw for Netflix programming. But as its advertising business grows, it becomes an even bigger deal for sports partners.

For a network paying an arm and a leg for the rights to NFL games, there’s virtually no value for advertisers to appear beyond live airings, because audiences can simply skip ahead back to the action. With popular sports documentaries that aren’t demanding live viewing, Netflix not only gets to sell ads against watches when it initially drops. The service also gets a residual effect that promises ad views (for those on the ad tier) and engaged viewers well after those initial episodes appear. There’s real value for brands there in ways that a DVR viewing of a game simply can’t deliver on.

There’s an argument to be made that because these docuseries are typically appearing after the season, it removes some of the “appointment viewing” aspects for Netflix. And maybe that’s true. But no one said they can’t eventually pivot to something that appears in-season on a two-month delay. And even basing this fall’s episodes on last season, it’s likely Starting 5 will become an entertaining narrative to go alongside the live on-court action.

Where Netflix really holds its advantage, though, is where sports fits in as part of the total package it provides. While Amazon has an increasingly strong list of sports rights, it’s paying a ton for them and has limited content beyond those events. Apple has been finding more scripted show success, but supply is still limited as is its sports inventory (largely MLS and Friday MLB games).

For traditional media companies like NBCUniversal, Fox, Paramount and Disney, they have plenty of content beyond sports. But Netflix already has some of that content as well. And they don’t have to continue propping up expensive studio businesses, linear TV networks, streaming services struggling to become profitable, and/or enormous live sports rights outlays.

Netflix may need another major sports docuseries or two in order to truly be a year-round sports player the way competitors are. But the fact that the service is in such a strong position already regarding sports, despite less content than the rest, shows that its math appears to (once again) be working just fine.