Netflix has been looking to capture the draw of live streaming for a few years now. Their adventures into this tricky corner of entertainment didn’t start well at all. The most famous calamity was the Love Is Blind live stream, which suffered from an hour-long delay and several drops throughout as a result of a bug back in 2023.
It wouldn’t be the last, though. The late 2024 live boxing event headlined by Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano and followed by the equivalent of a clown pie fight was plagued with buffering issues and outright dropouts. Even so, Netflix went on to secure the rights to broadcast WWE’s Monday Night Raw and even some major league games.
With the creases seemingly ironed out, Netflix continues to add to its live broadcast schedule, paying up to show some of the biggest events on the major league calendar. It follows a trend towards live media as a big seller, but it’s not the only way Netflix is looking to adapt to remain a global titan of entertainment.
Committing to the Live Push
Back in 2024, co-CEO Greg Peters spoke of the desire to “Netflix-ify” the NFL. Speaking to a Financial Times conference, he said that they’re approaching the broadcast of the league as a single event, aiming to add a bit of their own stuff around it to “hopefully make it super fun.”
Two years on, that single NFL event proved to be successful enough for the streamer that, in 2026, there’ll be five games live on Netflix. They’re said to be paying as much as $500 million to broadcast the five event games. They’ve also shelled out $50 million for two special events and the opening night game of the MLB.
Of course, there are also the previously mentioned live events, such as TV specials, weekly WWE nights, some boxing events, and even some major concerts. It all follows a trend of people turning to live streams and being more intrigued by the growing applications of the tech beyond sports, music, and television.
In the case of live bingo, for example, the game of cheeky calls and numbered balls is live-streamed to players, and the UI enables them to play along in real time. It adds authenticity and in-the-moment engagement to the online game. The same can be said for the rise of live shopping, which Netflix dabbled in this year alongside Walmart and the Lego Group.
Looking to Tap into TV’s Appeal
Netflix entered the scene as a disruptor of the regular TV formula. Instead of paying for stacks of bundles and installations on long contracts with wretched early-leave fees, you just needed one subscription and could watch whatever you want whenever you want. Now, Netflix is reportedly looking to use the broadcast schedule setup.
Of course, this wouldn’t replace the on-demand library that they sport. Instead, it’d be another section of the platform that anyone can just tap into live and see a 24/7 endless stream of programs related to that Netflix channel’s theme. They say it’ll help to compete with the likes of Tubi and push its nascent advertising efforts.
Netflix has gone big on live-streamed events, tapping into a very active trend, and will now turn its eye to drawing from the familiar TV model. The main question is if it’ll be able to avoid becoming the traditional premium TV bundling it once sought to replace.