The Netflix logo is shown on one of the streaming giant’s Hollywood buildings in Los Angeles on July 12, 2023.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Netflix will stream Christmas Day NFL games for the next three years, in its first true step into live sports.
The streaming platform will show two games on Christmas Day this year, followed by at least one matchup in both 2025 and 2026, the league announced Wednesday.
It is unclear how much Netflix paid for the rights to stream the games.
Netflix has drawn large audiences with sports programming, from the “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” documentary to its “Quarterback” series following NFL signal callers. While the company took major strides into live programming with a deal to stream the WWE’s “Raw” and a boxing fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, the company had suggested it had not found a live sports rights strategy that worked for it.
“We’ve not seen a profit path to renting big sports,” Co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos said in December 2022.
“We’re not anti-sports, we’re just pro-profit,” Sarandos said.
Now, Netflix will stream games for the most watched U.S. sports league, at a time when it is trying to boost profits by raising subscription prices, pushing users toward an ad-tier membership and cracking down on password sharing.
The three Christmas Day NFL games averaged 28.68 million viewers last year, according to Sports Media Watch.
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