New Trend At Netflix: Sports Documentaries
The company ignores live sports but embraces sport-docs.
Sports on TV is expensive, but it pays. So why has Netflix resisted paying for the rights to carry live sports for years, even as streaming rivals like Amazon, Apple, and YouTube have chased them aggressively? This is a question The New York Times tries to answer in an article by John Koblin and Alan Blinder.
Netflix’s strategy on sports has been different from the competitors, yet the results are winning. Netflix’s documentary series about Formula 1, Drive to Survive, had excellent ratings. “It showed us that the ceiling was much higher than we might have thought,” said Brandon Riegg, the Netflix vice president of nonfiction series. So, the company greenlit other sports documentary series: tennis-focused series Break Point and Full Swing, which focuses on men’s professional golf, are now available on the platform. Netflix executives are confident in focusing on leagues that haven’t “really been fully covered, compared to some other sports,” Mr. Riegg said. Still, Netflix is open to doing documentary series on more popular American sports like football or basketball. But it would need the access, and the complete editorial control that Formula 1, golf, and tennis have given it.
Why not live sports? For years, live sports rights have been a topic of near-constant debate in Netflix leadership meetings. But even as executives have considered it, they have always settled in the same place: The company’s money is better spent elsewhere. “We’re not in the business of live sports rights. We’re not in the business of renting,” Mr. Riegg explained.
Source: New York Times
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The company ignores live sports but embraces sport-docs.
Sports on TV is expensive, but it pays. So why has Netflix resisted paying for the rights to carry live sports for years, even as streaming rivals like Amazon, Apple, and YouTube have chased them aggressively? This is a question The New York Times tries to answer in an article by John Koblin and Alan Blinder.
Netflix’s strategy on sports has been different from the competitors, yet the results are winning. Netflix’s documentary series about Formula 1, Drive to Survive, had excellent ratings. “It showed us that the ceiling was much higher than we might have thought,” said Brandon Riegg, the Netflix vice president of nonfiction series. So, the company greenlit other sports documentary series: tennis-focused series Break Point and Full Swing, which focuses on men’s professional golf, are now available on the platform. Netflix executives are confident in focusing on leagues that haven’t “really been fully covered, compared to some other sports,” Mr. Riegg said. Still, Netflix is open to doing documentary series on more popular American sports like football or basketball. But it would need the access, and the complete editorial control that Formula 1, golf, and tennis have given it.
Why not live sports? For years, live sports rights have been a topic of near-constant debate in Netflix leadership meetings. But even as executives have considered it, they have always settled in the same place: The company’s money is better spent elsewhere. “We’re not in the business of live sports rights. We’re not in the business of renting,” Mr. Riegg explained.
Source: New York Times
Share:
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