The long wait for Netflix to buy rights for live sports broadcasts on its platform is over, and longtime ESPN and DAZN executive John Skipper believes Netflix buying rights to two Christmas Day NFL games is just the beginning.
In a conversation on the Sporting Class podcast released Friday, Skipper explained why. After low subscriber growth numbers, price hikes and a crackdown on password-sharing in 2021 and 2022, Skipper believes Netflix’s financial outlook is strong once again. Therefore, it should be no surprise the company is forking over significant sums of money to bring live sports to its platform globally.
“It’s just the natural evolution,” Skipper said. “(Netflix) is making money now. He was letting his shareholders know that they were going to not dive into sports while they were losing money. Sports are expensive. Now that they’re making money, now that they’re emerging as the big winner, which they are, they understand that they will need to keep moving into sports. It was a matter of time.”
Despite flirting with a purchase of the World Surf League last year, Netflix for years maintained its live sports offerings would be limited to special events. Both Chris Rock and Katt Williams aired live comedy specials on Netflix in the past several months, while John Mulaney hosted a live late-night show this month. In addition, The Roast of Tom Brady and its WWE deal showed Netflix was slowly getting into the live sports business through the side door.
Skipper expects Netflix to continue to broadcast these events in addition to more live games and matches.
“I don’t think it’s either-or,” Skipper added. “I think they will continue to look for one-off events, and they’ve proved quite successful in that, in things other than sports … and they’ll keep doing that. There’s no reason not to. Netflix is now interested in share. They are going to continue to try and grow share, and they know this will help them do that, and retain their subscribers, and grow their subscribers worldwide.”
Tracing the long arc of Netflix’s rise to dominate Hollywood explains how we got to the point where families will open the app to watch Chiefs-Steelers in December. They launched a streaming platform long before the rest of Hollywood, then spent big on original content, prestige films, comedy and documentaries to bring in an audience. The company then made moves to stabilize financially, and came out the other side relatively unscathed.
Now, Netflix sets its sights on sports, and season executives like Skipper believe the NFL on Christmas is just the tip of the iceberg.
[The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on YouTube]
