Netflix Wants More NFL Games After Christmas Day Success: Could League Spark Bidding War With CBS, Fox?

Streaming giant Netflix Inc NFLX could have its eyes on more National Football League games after the successful debut of the company's Christmas Day games that broke streaming records.

What Happened: For years, Netflix has resisted calls to push further into sports rights, opting instead to do one-off live events or what it called "sports adjacent" content.

The company's sports documentaries and reality series like "Drive to Survive" have helped leagues and athletes get more attention with a surge in viewership and increased fans for Liberty Formula One FWONA FWONK owned Formula 1 racing league often credited to Netflix.

Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria was asked about the pursuit of more NFL games during an appearance on "The Town" podcast.

"I definitely want the Sunday (afternoon) games," Bajaria said, as reported by FrontOfficeSports.

The answer came when asked which NFL media rights Netflix would be interested in. Netflix later acknowledged that the comments were informal ones made by Bajaria and not a new content strategy shift.

As reported by FrontOfficeSports, the current Sunday afternoon NFL games are part of media rights packages with CBS, which is owned by Paramount Global PARA PARAA and Fox, which is owned by Fox Corporation FOX FOXA.

Those deals are set to expire after the 2033 NFL season, but the NFL has an opt-out clause that could see it end the deals early after the 2029 season. A deal with The Walt Disney Company DIS for "Monday Night Football" ends after the 2030 season.

Given strong viewership and demand from media companies to land NFL content, the league could choose to end the deals early.

Why It's Important: While Bajaria's comments were in passing and not an official announcement, they signal interest in adding more NFL content.

Netflix is currently on a three-year deal with the NFL that gets the streaming company at least one game every Christmas Day.

In 2024, Netflix streamed two games on Christmas with the games having averages of 24.3 million viewers (Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans) and 24.1 million viewers (Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers).

Those games set new NFL streaming records for the regular season, surpassing even the 23.0 million viewers of Peacock's exclusive streaming game during the 2023 NFL playoffs.

Prime Video, which is the streaming platform owned by Amazon.com Inc AMZN, partnered with the NFL for the rights to "Thursday Night Football." Amazon's weekly broadcast has helped boost the company's streaming subscribers and advertising revenue.

"Thursday Night Football" games averaged 13.2 million viewers during the 2024 NFL season, up 11% year-over-year.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has often shied away from saying the company wants full sports seasons. In January, he told investors that the economics didn't work and the "live events business" was where the company wanted to be.

Previously, Sarandos said the company wasn't "anti-sports," but rather "pro-profit."

The Netflix Christmas Day games saw huge advertising demand and likely broke even on revenue for the company, not counting the additional subscribers the company gained along the way.

Over the past year, Netflix has launched a live boxing event headlined by Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, had two NFL games on Christmas and launched its new partnership with WWE, which is a unit of TKO Group Holdings TKO.

Netflix landed the U.S. rights to the Women's World Cup in 2027 and 2031. The company is also said to be exploring a bid for the U.S. rights to Formula 1. ESPN has had the rights to Formula 1 since 2018 and its deal expires after the 2025 season.

While Netflix previously avoided live sports and full seasons, its new strategy seems focused on acquiring as much sports content as possible to drive advertising and subscriber revenue.

Netflix ended the fourth quarter with 301.63 million global paid subscribers, adding a record 18.91 million in the quarter. The company will no longer break out subscriber figures, which means more attention will be placed on revenue and the company's content.

NFLX Price Action: Netflix stock was down 0.1% to $1,033.66 on Wednesday, compared to a 52-week trading range of $542.01 to $1,064.50. However, Netflix stock has increased 79% over the last year.

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