After a few show fights over Christmas, the largest and most important streaming provider is broadcasting real sport for the first time. What does this mean for the media industry and for sports fans?
Netflix has been answering the question about broadcasting live sports for years. But now there is a change in the leading streaming provider, which is presenting real sporting events for the first time. After documentaries and specially designed tennis, golf and boxing events, Netflix will broadcast two NFL games worldwide and exclusively on Christmas Day.
This could be a detrimental development for sports enthusiasts as the TV sports market continues to fragment. Fans of live broadcasts are finding it increasingly difficult to keep track and need more and more subscriptions. Media experts are of the opinion that this trend will continue to grow, especially in top international sport.
Netflix shows interest in broadcasting live sports – the situation is becoming more confusing
The former DFL boss and DynFounder Christian Seifert said: “It is global brands that buy global rights.” Regarding Netflix’s exclusive Christmas games, the experienced rights specialist recently said at the “Sport Marke Medien” congress in Munich: “This is a test. “
In March, Netflix manager Gabe Spitzer practically ruled out the acquisition of NFL rights. “We're still not part of the live sports rights game – we're focused on creating great dramas with great stories,” he told the South Germans Newspaper. However, with the football broadcasts, Netflix is a new player in the market.
There are already numerous established pay-TV offers for sports in this country, including: Heaven, DAZN, MagentaSport Or Dyn. They are complemented by niche providers such as Sportdeutschland.TV Or Sportdigitalwhich are also chargeable and make the offer more confusing.
Heaven-Boss sees “big, powerful players” coming
Bid behind payment cabinets RTL+ or Amazon Prime Video football, the latter is considered a sports pioneer among streaming providers. In Germany, the retail giant's offering already shows Champions League games and the tennis tournament in Wimbledon.
With Netflix, Disney+, RTL+ Premium and more: Click here for the SmartStream package from MagentaTV*.
The next great streaming provider to enter the sports market was Apple. Through a remarkable ten-year deal worth $2.5 billion, the world's most valuable company secured global rights to the American soccer league MLS Apple TV+.
“Big, powerful players are coming,” said the former Heaven-Boss Carsten Schmidt on the future of competition in the area of sports rights. According to Fabian Stechel from the agency CAAadvises the major leagues and TV providers, their “capital situation is much better” than that of the established competition.
“Incredible” flop quote crucial to streaming services’ interest in live sports?
For Seifert, the advantage of sports for streaming providers is obvious. He said that there was an “incredible flop rate” of up to 90 percent for new films and series. On the other hand, he emphasized: “The reliability of major sporting events is enormous.” The high number of spectators can be easily predicted.
According to Netflix, around 60 million households worldwide will tune in to the exhibition fight between former boxing world champion Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in mid-November. However, broadcast problems marred the event, and everything is expected to run more smoothly for the NFL games over Christmas.
After the Netflix-NFL deal, media expert Lisa Jäger from the strategy consultancy Simon-Kucher expects further sports commitments. “In the streaming market at the moment there is quite a scramble for market shares and subscribers,” she said: “That’s why the big question is: What can the providers actually do to keep their subscribers?” Jäger is convinced “that we are there too “We'll see some exciting developments next year.”
$76 billion contract
According to the media expert, market research has shown: “Besides the price, the wide selection of content is the most important criterion” for streaming customers. Therefore, “sports content, i.e. exclusive content that is not available elsewhere, would fit in wonderfully. Ideally, these are not just any niche sports, but rather content that is aimed at the broadest possible target group.”
Amazon’s NBA deal also fits this idea. In collaboration with Disney and NBCUniversal The retail giant expropriated the TV rights of the North American professional basketball league for the eleven seasons from 2025/26 to 2035/36. According to consistent media reports, the total value of the package amounts to 76 billion dollars (around 70 billion euros). Basketball fans will ultimately finance a significant portion of this sum through subscriptions.
