Netflix had always said loud and clear that advertising and sports were not part of the company’s strategy. During the discussion with analysts for the first quarter results, Netflix finally acknowledged that the AVOD model deserved digging. All the press largely took up this information.
But at the turn of a question from an analyst, Ted Sarandos addressed another subject whose answer deserves attention, because it does not close the door to sport, quite the contrary: “We’re not entirely sure if you can create a big profit stream by adding sports. Other people try it, but we took a different route. In the meantime, we’re incredibly excited about, as you mentioned, the F1 series ‘Drive To Survive’, as an example of sports programming that our subscribers really enjoy. We have developed this sport enormously. »
The co-CEO adds: “We are making the same bet in the world of tennis, golf and other sports to come. And we also have an incredible sports documentary business that continues to grow. So I’m not saying that we will never do sport, but we should find a way to develop an important source of income and profit. »
It’s no secret that Netflix is increasingly interested in sports content. His success with the series devoted to F1 has led to growing interest in this motor sport in the United States. This gave Netflix the idea to develop this concept with the producer of the F1 series, Box to Box. Thus, Netflix has announced 3 projects since the beginning of the year: one on golf with the PGA Tour, one on tennis through an agreement with the ATP and the WTA, and more recently one with ASO for a dedicated series at the Tour de France which will lift the veil behind the scenes of eight emblematic teams, from preparation to the finish line in a series of 8 episodes of 45 minutes.
For now, Netflix has stayed away from live broadcasts of sporting events, therefore favoring documentary series devoted to sports seasons and a few world stars (Mr. Jordan, Neymar Jr, Pelé, Bubba Wallace, etc.). Insofar as Netflix will authorize advertising for some of its plans, we know that one of the means of amortizing the sports rights is the broadcasting of advertising around the events: it is therefore only a short step to cross think that Netflix could quickly enter the global battle for sports rights: Amazon has paved the way, Netflix could well rush into it.