Streaming giant Netflix Inc NFLX is upping its sports game in 2024 with several news items and the premiere of a comedy roast of Tom Brady, one of the greatest NFL players of all time.
What Happened: For years, Netflix had a strategy of launching sports-adjacent content, which includes docuseries on sports like Formula 1, tennis, golf and the Tour de France.
With a push into football content, which included the 2023 series "Quarterback," Netflix is now ready to add another direction for sports content.
The streaming company will air a live comedy roast of Tom Brady, titled "The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady."
An acronym of GROAT for the roast is a play on GOAT, an acronym which means "Greatest of All Time," and is often used to describe legends like Brady.
This marks the first live roast for Netflix and comes as the company has expanded its live content with several live sports specials and a live comedy special featuring Chris Rock.
The roast will be part of the "Netflix Is a Joke Fest" and air on May 5 at 8 p.m. ET, exclusively on Netflix.
Comedian Kevin Hart serves as the host of the roast, with comedian and well-known roaster Jeff Ross also serving as a roaster of Brady. No other guests have been confirmed for the event, with a trailer saying there will be a lineup of surprise guests. Roasters could include athletes, comedians and celebrities.
"No Helmets. No Mercy. No Brady Rule," the trailer reads.
Brady says "I'm unroastable" in the trailer.
Related Link: Netflix Q1 Earnings Highlights: Revenue Beat, EPS Beat, 9.33 Million Paid Subs Added, Ad-Tier Plan Update And More
Why It's Important: Brady retired after the 2023 season, which came after returning to the league from a previous retirement decision.
The NFL quarterback retired as the record holder in passing yards, passing touchdowns, NFL Playoff passing yards, NFL Playoff touchdowns and many other records. The winningest NFL quarterback won seven Super Bowls in 10 Super Bowl appearances and won a record five Super Bowl MVP awards.
The roast of Brady marks another move into sports and live content by Netflix, which comes after "The Netflix Slam" aired in March 2024 featuring tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
Netflix has also aired a live golf special with golfers and race car drivers.
The company launches perhaps its biggest sporting event ever with a live boxing special featuring Mike Tyson and Jake Paul on July 20.
Netflix also recently signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, which is a unit of TKO Group Holdings TKO, that will boost its sports content library.
"Receiver," which is a spinoff of "Quarterback" will air on Netflix in summer 2024 and feature NFL players Davante Adams (Las Vegas Raiders), Justin Jefferson (Minnesota Vikings), George Kittle (San Francisco 49ers), Deebo Samuel (San Francisco 49ers) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (Detroit Lions).
Netflix has aired several sports documentaries. It also bid on the media rights to several sports leagues, but has been less aggressive in bidding on sports rights in recent months, saying it wanted to focus on sports-adjacent programming such as docuseries and potentially one-off live events.
“We aren’t anti-sports, we’re pro-profit,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in January 2023 when asked about sports rights.
While the company hasn't won any rights for live matches of the four major North American sports leagues, Netflix continues to push deeper into the world of sports content.
NFLX Price Action: Netflix shares are down 3.63% to $556.55 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $315.62 to $639.
Photos: Brady, Shutterstock; Netflix, Unsplash
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