Like the status of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, Netflix’s live sports strategy remains unchanged.
In a podcast published Sunday, Netflix VP of sports Gabe Spitzer told John Ourand of Puck that the company remains interested in individual events rather than full season-long packages, reiterating a point that the streamer’s executives have made repeatedly in recent months.
“We’re not in the volume business, at least at this point in time,” Spitzer said, though he did not rule out that changing in the future. “For us, at least for right now, a more random game on a Friday night is not necessarily the same for us as [MLB] Opening Night or a Home Run Derby. As a fan, you know what those mean and you might come to watch on Netflix.”
The streamer’s logic, per Spitzer, is that an ordinary game will have to compete not only with events on other services, but even with other Netflix programming — specifically mentioning the series “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game” in what he termed a “battle for attention on and off Netflix.”
Spitzer also ruled out Netflix having interest in a package of local rights akin to the MLB.tv digital out-of-market package, which ESPN acquired in the same rights negotiations that saw Netflix acquire MLB Opening Night, the Home Run Derby and this year’s Field of Dreams Game. “Obviously, there’s an added cost for a subscription to MLB. That’s not really in our model right now.” Spitzer noted that Netflix does not use pay-per-view for its boxing cards, which subscribers can watch even at the lowest-cost ad-supported tier.
Spitzer also addressed recent Netflix moves to hire former “SportsCenter” anchor Elle Duncan and acquire exclusive video distribution to a series of sports-related podcasts.
Duncan’s non-exclusive deal — which will allow her to work events for other companies so long as they do not conflict with her Netflix duties — will be a model for future talent hires, he said. “Obviously we don’t have a lot of volume. We could have signed [Duncan] exclusively. We wanted to say, hey, if you have an amazing opportunity, if you can go work the WNBA Finals somewhere else and it doesn’t conflict with one of our dates, go do that. So I think that’s going to be our approach to talent, it’s okay if you are somewhere else.”
