Netflix is reportedly in discussions with the National Football League about exclusively broadcasting two Christmas Day NFL games, something that is being surmised as a reason behind the delayed release of the NFL schedule. Andy “Dirt” Johnson and Brandon Sprague discussed the latest developments with this story and how consumption habits continue to be altered through cord cutting and the rise of digital media through streaming.
Johnson is supportive of the effort, saying he has Netflix and surmises that the quality will be great. In his remarks, he reminded listeners that Netflix will be streaming a bout between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson on July 20. As a whole, he is looking forward to what Netflix is doing – which recently included The Roast of Tom Brady – as it engages in these forays into the sports media industry.
“They’re doing more live content is kind of the point,” Sprague said on Friday’s edition of the Dirt & Sprague morning show on 1080 The Fan. “People are kind of upset by this, and I’m kind of confused by it. So, you might say, ‘It should be on standard cable,’ right? NBC, ABC, CBS, rabbit ears to cable boxes, whatever. I kind of feel like we’re at a place where most people who are consuming TV content have Netflix.”
While Netflix is among the most widely used media platforms worldwide, Johnson expressed a sentiment of pause over if it will be able to captivate viewers and grow interest in sports. This discourse came out of Johnson averring that the Full Swing docuseries was rudimentary at points in that it was explaining the definitions behind golf terminology such as a bogey, par and cut.
“I don’t know how much of that is curtailed to the actual sports fan more so of just people like watching documentaries and you’re finding fans who aren’t normally fans of the sport who just happen to be on Netflix who then hopefully end up watching the sport,” Johnson said. “That’s where I don’t know how much of a crossover you have between sports fans and Netflix.”
The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery recently revealed that they will be creating a bundle with the Disney+, Hulu and Max streaming services to be released this summer. Both companies will also be part of a joint streaming venture that includes FOX Corporation led by chief executive officer Pete Distad. While the offering is scheduled to debut in the fall, the entity is facing an antitrust lawsuit from fuboTV that argues the joint streaming venture would control at least 54% of U.S. sports rights. A hearing date for the preliminary injunction within this antitrust lawsuit has been scheduled for August 7.
“I don’t know what to do, and I feel like I have double purchases of these streams that are existing, and then it’s, ‘Hey, we’ve partnered,’” Sprague said. “They’re basically reinventing cable every week.”
Johnson and Sprague then listed all of the streaming services those in the Portland area need to watch sports, enumerating a total of seven to eight depending on if the Trail Blazers release its own proprietary streaming service next year. Although there is a risk that sports fans could become unwilling to search for games and neglect to watch, Johnson is cognizant of the fact that the NFL could be somewhat immune. Last year, the league garnered an average of 28.7 million across its slate of three games on Christmas Day, a 29% year-over-year increase. Additionally, the Christmas Eve game between the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins averaged 31.5 million viewers on FOX.
During the NFL postseason, an exclusive Wild Card round game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins presented on Peacock secured an average minute audience of 23 million, the most-streamed event in U.S. history. A related study from Antenna found that Peacock retained 71% of subscribers whose sign-ups were attributed to the exclusive contest seven weeks later. Amazon Prime Video will reportedly stream an NFL Wild Card game for the first time this season, coming off an average of approximately 11.9 million viewers across its 16-game slate of Thursday Night Football games.
“The NFL doesn’t really care about this either way though,” Johnson said, referring to viewership of potential games through Netflix on Christmas Day. “Netflix is throwing a butt-ton of cash at them, and they’re going to say, ‘Sure, here you go. Take two Christmas Day games.’ They don’t care if they get 12 million; 19 million; 21 million – they’re just taking the money and running and laughing.”
