Christmas may come early for Netflix.
The NFL is considering bids from streaming giants for two football games to be played on Dec. 25, which falls on a Wednesday this year. The game will be the streaming giant's first major professional league sports event.
NFL representatives had no comment. But a person familiar with the discussions said the league is still considering the offer.
One consideration is whether having the game on a streamer rather than broadcast on TV will limit exposure to fans.
Netflix has approximately 83 million subscribers in the United States and Canada. The number of subscribers on the lower-cost, ad-supported tier that delivers commercials is only a fraction of that total.
One reason Netflix wants the NFL is that it could help it build its advertising business. Netflix is planning a presentation to advertisers in New York next week.
The NFL's current television partners, which pay annual broadcast rights fees totaling $11 billion, have been asked to bid on the games, according to two people familiar with the negotiations, who were not authorized to comment.
read more: Amazon's Prime Video and Netflix are crushing TV ad sales
The fact that the NFL can extract two games from the existing NFL package and ask media partners to pay again because they are held on a holiday outside of normal business hours on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday nights. It's a testament to the league's influence. The ratings for NFL games are higher than everything else on television.
Pack was the first to report that Netflix was included in this process.
Christmas Day has long been a part of NBA sports, with a series of games airing on ABC. However, the NFL has been satisfied with the performance of Christmas Day games in recent years in terms of ratings, and has made them part of the schedule for the 2024-25 season.
Over time, Netflix has increased its investment in sports-related content.
Earlier this year, Netflix announced that it would be home to WWE Raw starting in January 2025, and in July it would host live boxing matches, including a match between YouTuber and professional boxer Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Other live sporting events streamed on Netflix include exhibition tennis matches and golf tournaments.
“We believe that these kinds of eventified cultural moments, like the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, are exactly the kind of television that we want to see, and we, along with our members, We want to be a part of winning those moments,” said Netflix co-owner Ted Sarandos. At last month's financial results briefing, the CEO said:
Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix, said these types of cultural events are also relevant to the advertisers the company is trying to reach.
“So this is an opportunity for us to expand our advertising offering and give these brands access to these kinds of culture-defining moments,” Peters said in an April earnings presentation.
In addition to hosting live events, Netflix has also gained fans with its sports documentaries.
Sarandos said on the earnings call that the company's north star is “growing engagement, revenue and profits.”
“So when that opportunity comes, we can come in and do it. We feel the same way we did with the WWE deal, but if we can replicate that dynamic in other things, including sports. We're definitely going to look into that,''' Sarandos said.
“Raw” is the top show on USA Network, drawing 17.5 million unique viewers throughout the year, according to WWE and Netflix.
The deal is for an initial 10-year period of more than $5 billion in rights fees, with an option for Netflix to extend the deal, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by TKO, WWE's holding company.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.