Presented by Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), this Friday (15th) night sees a great sporting event for boxing lovers. Jake Paul (10-1, 7 knockouts), faces the legendary Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 knockouts), live, broadcast exclusively on the streaming platform. The event will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Most Valuable Promotions was created by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in 2021, with the mission of giving fighters greater creative control. Since then, MVP has hosted some of the biggest pay-per-view events in the world.
On Netflix’s part, this is a reinforcement of its recent change in strategy that involves live broadcasting of sporting events. Although many focus solely on the fight between Jake and Tyson, in fact, the initiative will have as a co-main event super lightweight champion Katie Taylor against unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano. This is the most anticipated women’s rematch in boxing history.
From “disinterested” to starting in live sports
Until 2022, Netflix maintained the position of not entering live sports, unlike its competitors such as Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. At the time, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of the company, told Variety magazine that the platform had no interest in investing in the broadcast of sports competitions.
“We didn’t see a profitable way to partner with sports. “We are not against sport, but simply in favor of profit,” he stated at the time.
Even with a first foray into this ecosystem with the broadcast of a golf tournament between celebrities, in 2023, Sarandos himself reiterated his disinterest in such assets, reaffirming that the company was only interested in programming adjacent to sports, such as series. movies and documentaries.
“Our position in live sports remains unchanged. We are very excited about the success of our sports-related programming. We just launched a great series called Quarterbacks with the NFL. A few weeks ago we had the Tour de France [Unchained]which did exactly what we saw with Drive to Survive and introduced a new audience to a sport that has been around for a long time but is not really understood,” Sarandos said, citing new content that had been released related to American football and cycling. .
However, with the significant advance of direct competitors in the live streaming market, Netflix clearly began to relax its strategy.
In March of this year, the service broadcast live the confrontation between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz. The duel took place in Las Vegas, days before the start of the Indian Wells tournament.
“Last year we decided to make a big bet on live streaming, taking advantage of the number of fans of comedy, reality shows, sports and more. There are no live events, sporting or otherwise, that compare to the crowds the NFL draws. “We are very excited about the exclusivity for the NFL Christmas games,” commented Bela Bajaria, content director at Netflix, when talking about the purchase of rights to the NFL games.
The series, naturally, continues at full steam. This month, the service will launch SENNA, about the life and career of Ayrton Senna, and another highlighting the meteoric rise of the Saudi Pro League, the Saudi soccer league.
The first sports broadcast involved golf and athletes.
Netflix had its first live sports broadcast on November 14, 2023. The company brought together the names of two sports series present in its catalog for The Netflix Cup golf tournament.
In this case, the contents were ‘Drive to Survive’, which highlights behind the scenes of Formula 1, and ‘Full Swing’, which brings the PGA season closer to the public. The event also took place in Las Vegas and coincided with the opening weekend of the Formula 1 GP in the city.
On the motorsport side, drivers Alex Albon (Williams Racing), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) participated. Among the golfers were Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas.
With billions invested, portfolio advances with NFL and WWE
After its first positive experiences, Netflix is increasingly flexing its position in sports broadcasting. Proof of this is that in December the company will broadcast the traditional NFL games at Christmas. As part of the three-season agreement, the platform will feature oval ball duels until 2026.
Also next year, Netflix will become the new home of WWE following a billion-dollar deal. With the agreement, the streaming platform will become the exclusive home of the event in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Latin America and other territories once the agreement begins.
According to sources close to the negotiation, the contract is worth at least $400 million a year and is believed to last more than five seasons.
“By combining our reach, recommendations and enthusiasm with WWE, we will be able to bring more joy and value to their audiences and our members. ‘Raw’ is the best in sports entertainment, mixing great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year, and we are excited to have this long-term partnership,” commented Bela Bajaria, at the time of the announcement.
