To the victor goes the spoils, and Netflix, the current undisputed champion of the cord-cutting and streaming wars, is heading full steam into an arena it once said it had no interest in entering.
At its core, live television seems antithetical to the whole point of a streaming service that allows you to binge-watch an entire season of your favorite show, 20 episodes at a time, if you prefer.
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For years, Netflix pretended it had no interest in broadcasting live sports on its streaming platform. But 2024 was the year that the veil finally fell.
"I would not look at this as a signal of any other change or any change to our sports strategy," co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during the company's 2023 Q4 earnings call in January.
He made those comments after Netflix announced a massive 10-year, $5 billion deal with WWE to begin airing the wrestling promotion's flagship Raw brand on Netflix in 2025.
The deal represented Netflix's first long-term commitment to consistently airing a live sports program, but it turns out the company was only getting started.
Netflix doubles down on live sports deals
In May, the company announced that it had signed a three-year deal with the NFL to broadcast the league's Christmas Day games.
While the company did not disclose the financial particulars of the deal, Bloomberg reported that Netflix will pay $150 million to broadcast a pair of games this year (another streamer, Amazon Prime, has the broadcast rights to the third game of the day).
Related: Netflix has already scored big with upcoming NFL Christmas broadcasts
While $150 million sounds like a lot to spend on eight hours of content on one day of the year, Netflix's move is already paying off.
Earlier this week, the company announced that it has sold out of the ad space for the two games, with more than six weeks left until Christmas.
According to AdAge, the average cost of a 30-second ad during a Sunday Night Football game is around $1 million in 2024.
If the average NFL game is three hours long and 25% is commercials, that equals 45 minutes to an hour of ads, or between 90 and 120 commercials per game. This means NBC (which broadcasts Sunday Night Football) makes approximately $100 million per game on ads alone.
And since Christmas Day represents a premium viewing window, it stands to reason that Netflix can charge even more for ads than NBC does.
Netflix gets in the ring with heavyweights Tyson & Paul
When Showtime shut down its boxing coverage at the end of 2023, it was the end of an era. Premium cable networks HBO and Showtime dominated the boxing landscape for over three decades.
Related: Jake Paul’s net worth as he faces Mike Tyson in the ring
But the beginning of the end came in 2018 after HBO announced that it was getting out of the fight game for good. Showtime followed suit five years later, leaving the sport in flux as it wasn't clear where boxing would find a new home.
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Once again, streaming platforms have stepped in to fill the void, with Amazon Prime joining DAZN and traditional broadcaster ESPN as the new home for boxing.
Netflix has also stepped into the ring, albeit more tepidly. The fight between YouTube star turned amateur boxer Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, will be broadcast live on the platform Friday night.
While much of the intrigue in the fight comes from their disparate ages (Paul is 27 while Tyson is 58), it will also be a novelty to see a live boxing event on Netflix.
Here's how to watch Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson on Netflix
Broadcasting live from the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix, Jake Paul will face Mike Tyson in the squared circle.
Here's how to watch the fight on Netflix:
To access the fight, you need only a basic Netflix subscription, starting at $6.99 per month.
Bars and restaurants that pay for DirecTV for Business will also be able to show it.
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