Netflix is airing another live sports match — even though the company continues to insist it's not entering the business of live sports rights.
On Thursday, Mar. 7, the streaming giant announced it would be airing a boxing match between iconic and controversial former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and social media star Jake Paul.
Netflix (NFLX) described the bout — which will be on Saturday, July 20 at the massive AT&T Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys play — as a "heavyweight boxing mega-event."
While the match is surely to attract eyeballs — and detractors — for the presence of much-maligned Paul, the match is another sign that Netflix is accelerating its live sports content.
In January, Netflix announced a deal massive 10-year, $5 billion deal with WWE to begin airing the wrestling promotion's flagship Raw brand on Netflix by 2025. But while the deal market Netflix's first long-term commitment into consistently airing a live sports program, Netflix execs made sure to stress that the WWE, being a scripted property, is "sports entertainment."
"I would not look at this as a signal of any other change or any change to our sports strategy," Sarandos said during the company's 2023 Q4 earnings call in January.
This meant the deal aligned more with Netflix's sports strategy, which has been focused on the entertainment and storytelling that blossomed from successful sports docuseries like "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" and "Full Swing."
Netflix has continued to move into streaming live sporting events, but they have mostly been exhibition games such as "The Netflix Cup" — a golf event that featured pro golfers and Formula 1 drivers who were featured in the aforementioned Netflix docuseries — and "The Netflix Slam," which was a tennis match between two massive Spanish talents, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, that aired last Sunday.
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With the announcement of this match between Paul and Tyson, the streaming giant seems to be continuing to commit to alternative forms of live sports. In the press release for the fight, the company stressed that it is a "premier home for great sports entertainment," before highlighting its lineup of docuseries.
The company's streaming competitors like Prime Video and Apple TV+ have committed billions to live streaming of sports leagues like the NFL and MLS. But despite that, Netflix clearly has a stronghold in streaming with its over 80 million streaming subscribers in the United States alone and over 260 million worldwide, so many are awaiting when it will fully commit to a firm live sports property.
For now, the company seems to be firm in its commitment to the storytelling side — and it's just stretching the boundaries of that meaning as much as it can.
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