A number of years in the past, Netflix fine-tuned its method for fulfillment: unique content material, no stay TV, no advertisements, and an unequalled library of films and sequence that it might probably air throughout the globe. As just lately as final yr, it largely caught to that plan. However because the streaming wars have developed, the corporate has more and more welcomed different peoples’ films and exhibits onto its platform. And after dabbling in livestreaming with a Chris Rock particular, a brand new cope with WWE to stream Monday Evening Uncooked for the subsequent 10 years exhibits simply how totally Netflix has rewritten its personal rulebook.
As we speak, Netflix introduced will probably be the brand new dwelling of Uncooked starting in 2025. The deal will reportedly value Netflix $5 billion over its lifetime. Coupled with a current enhance within the variety of exhibits its licensing from sometimes-competitors, and its current introduction of ad-supported tiers, the transfer demonstrates that Netflix’s new recipe appears extra like: unique content material, outdated episodes of Fits, and even sports activities—or a minimum of, the “sports activities leisure” that WWE focuses on.
Netflix’s play right here may be very on pattern. For months now streaming companies have been vying to replenish on stay sports activities choices. Amazon wager massive—like $1 billion per yr for 11 years massive—on the NFL’s Thursday Evening Soccer video games. Apple TV+ is all in on Main League Soccer. Hulu, as a result of it shares a dad or mum with ESPN, has been providing sports activities through Hulu + Dwell TV. Final fall, Max introduced a partnership with Bleacher Report to supply a sports activities add-on that enables customers to observe the video games Warner Bros. Discovery gives via its TBS and TNT community (learn: NBA and NHL video games). This yr’s Tremendous Bowl will probably be streamed on Paramount+. The checklist is lengthy.
Sports activities, nonetheless, are simply a part of the about-face Netflix is pulling—and it’s not the one one. Within the early years of streaming, Netflix grew its subscriber numbers with assist from content material it licensed from different studios: The Workplace, Associates. In response to these studios forming their very own streaming companies—and to get round international licensing points—Netflix went full-throttle on originals.
Final yr, that tide turned again. Warner Bros. Discovery licensed HBO exhibits like Insecure and Six Ft Beneath to Netflix. Disney licensed some exhibits to the streamer too. And Netflix wanted them. Netflix spends roughly $17 billion on content material, each unique and licensed, per yr, however quite a lot of the hours spent watching are nonetheless spent on licensed properties. Netflix originals have gained floor lately, comprising 53 % of whole sequence viewing time on the platform in 2022, up from 22 % in 2017. However unique content material is extra of a chance than a recognized amount like Fits, and Netflix-produced films particularly have had a combined file of success.
Going into 2024, it appears as if licensing is “in vogue once more,” as Warner Bros. Discovery content material gross sales head David Decker instructed The New York Instances. Studios bought cash for his or her exhibits, Netflix bought these exhibits in entrance of viewers. John Mass, president of funding fund Content material Companions, instructed The Los Angeles Instances in December that the streaming wars had been over, “and Netflix has come out on high.”