|
It
will also stream at least one game on Christmas Day in 2025 and
2026 as part of the exclusive three-season agreement.
The deal marks the first time Netflix has licensed the rights to
one of the world's biggest sports leagues and also the first
time it would show live football.
Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria said on Wednesday "there are
no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with
the audiences NFL football attracts."
The company did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
Bloomberg News, which first reported on the negotiations, said
Netflix will pay less than $150 million per game.
The NFL is the most-watched sports league in the U.S. This
year's Super Bowl game between Kansas City Chiefs and the San
Francisco 49ers drew a record 123.7 million U.S. viewers.
"Netflix is no longer just experimenting with sports, they're
buying in," said Ross Benes, senior analyst at Emarketer.
The streaming pioneer has turned to live events and sports in
recent months to retain users and build out its advertising
business as growth saturates in top market U.S.
Netflix signed a more than $5 billion rights deal in January to
be the exclusive home of World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW and
live-streamed a tennis face-off between Rafael Nadal and Carlos
Alcaraz in March.
Still, the NFL deal marks a new area for the company that just
last year suggested it did not plan to compete for sports rights
due to the hefty investments they require.
Its rivals have also pounced on rights to big sports leagues in
recent years. Amazon Prime holds rights to Thursday Night
Football and Apple TV+ hosts Friday Night Baseball and Major
League Soccer.
"2024 will be looked at as the year the sports pendulum began to
favor streaming," Benes said.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Aditya Soni in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sriraj Kalluvila)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
