MW Netflix broadens live-sports footprint with winning Women's World Cup bid. Bigger subscriber base and ad reach foreseen.
By Weston Blasi
Netflix now has soccer, the NFL, WWE and boxing in its live-sports portfolio
Netflix and FIFA have agreed to a U.S. broadcast deal for the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cup, further expanding the streaming company's footprint in the live-sports category, which includes NFL, boxing and WWE content.
The new FIFA deal "reflects the streamer's aim to make live sports a major part of its brand strategy," Jacqueline Corbelli, chief executive of BrightLine, a technology company that specializes in television advertising, told MarketWatch.
"It also helps build a different type of prestige and creates credibility to the Netflix brand in the sports broadcasting space," she said.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it's likely that Netflix $(NFLX)$ paid well into the tens of millions for the rights to those coming World Cups. In 2011, Fox $(FOX)$ $(FOXA)$ won broadcast rights to World Cup tournaments, men's and women's, through 2022, and the cost to media companies when TV rights to live sports have gone up for bid have spiked ever since.
"By acquiring FIFA's live broadcast rights, Netflix attracts a new audience of female sports fans [and] broadens its subscriber base and therefore ad reach," Corbelli said.
The 2023 Women's World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was the first in which FIFA sold the media rights as a stand-alone package separate from the men's tournament, and the two tournaments are intended to be sold separately moving forward.
Fox holds broadcast rights to the 2026 men's tournament, which will be held in North America for the first time since 1994. At the men's 2022 World Cup in Qatar, 32 teams shared the $440 million prize pool. For the women's 2023 tournament, FIFA had a $152 million total fund for prize money, contributions to teams' preparation costs and payments to players' clubs.
"I've seen the fandom for the FIFA Women's World Cup grow tremendously - from the electric atmosphere in France in 2019 to, most recently, the incredible energy we saw across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand last year," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, using the Maori-language name for New Zealand. "Bringing this iconic tournament to Netflix isn't just about streaming matches, it's also about celebrating the players, the culture and the passion driving the global rise of women's sport."
Netflix will also produce an exclusive documentary series for both tournaments that will be tasked with "spotlighting the world's top players, their journeys and the global growth of women's football," FIFA said.
Brazil is slated to host the Women's World Cup in 2027. A 2031 host has not been selected.
"This is a landmark moment for sports media rights," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. "As a marquee brand and FIFA's new long-term partner, Netflix has shown a very strong level of commitment to growing women's football. This agreement sends a strong message about the real value of the FIFA Women's World Cup and the global women's game. FIFA and Netflix partnering together makes this a truly historic day for broadcasting and for women's football.
The 2023 Women's World Cup amassed 1.9 billion viewers over the 64 matches played across 10 stadiums in Australia and New Zealand, according to FIFA data. The deal with Netflix is for U.S. audiences, and there may be additional over-the-air broadcasts available in other countries, which have yet to be announced.
See: Want to watch every NFL game this season? It's going to cost you nearly $2,500.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos had said in the past that his company wasn't interested in getting into live sports. "We're not anti-sports; we're just pro-profit," he said in 2022, adding that Netflix "can get twice as big without sports."
Now Netflix is becoming heavily investing in sports.
Netflix's stock hit a record high after news that its Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight in November had drawn 108 million viewers.
On Christmas Day, Netflix will livestream one of the four major American sports for the first time: the NFL.
The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will play the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Baltimore Ravens will square off against the Houston Texans on Christmas. Netflix paid a reported $150 million for the pair of games, and will pay more for games in 2025 and 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal.
More nontraditional broadcasters are buying up sports rights. Comcast's $(CMCSA)$ Peacock owns rights to English Premier League soccer, Amazon $(AMZN)$ owns the NFL's Thursday Night Football and Apple TV+ $(AAPL)$ owns Major League Soccer rights.
Shares of Netflix are up 86.7% to date in 2024, compared with a 24% gain for the S&P 500 SPX over the same period.
See: Netflix may raise prices as a result of NFL programming, expert says.
-Weston Blasi
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 22, 2024 18:23 ET (23:23 GMT)
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