SHOW ME THE MONEY

The live sports bet for Netflix seems to be paying off. On last weeks earnings call Netflix announced 19M NEW subs in the 4th quarter - a record for the company - even eclipsing the Tiger King Covid era.

As much of the growth was attributed to the new NFL Christmas Day games and the Mike Tyson/ Jake Paul Fight, it got me thinking about how a few months ago Netflix walked away with the FIFA Women's World Cup rights in the US for the next two tournaments in '27 and '31 and what a major coup it was for the streamer.

Tonight's #trailblazingtuesday is all about the Netflix WWC strategy, why I think it will work, and why other streamers and broadcasters should start thinking about stepping up their rights acquisition game in women's sports.

1?? With Naomi Girma's record transfer fee of $1.1M to send Girma from the NWSL San Diego Wave to Chelsea the women's global game is only going to continue to get stronger. With more recognizable names playing abroad, more storylines and interest will follow when it comes to World Cup coverage (Girma's transfer is one of 3 NWSL foreign transfers that happened this month, and a number of USWNT standouts already play abroad).

2?? Anyone that knows anything about the World Cup bidding process is almost certain that the US will be hosting the 2031 Women's World Cup in the States. The last time the tournament was in the US was 1999 with the sold out Rose Bowl final and 17.9M viewers - and that will have been 32 years go in 2031! With the adoption of streaming and the growth of women's soccer fandom, I project the viewership and added subs to the platform to be MASSIVE in '31.

3?? While we don't know what Netflix paid for the WWC, I believe whatever they paid is significantly undervalued and that the WC will produce an outsized result in terms of new subs and reduced churn. Let's look at the numbers:

• Fox is reported to have paid $110 to broadcast the WWC in '23 in the US.
• Netflix is reported to be spending $14 billion annually on content and spent $5B on WWE rights for five years and $150M for TWO NFL games.
• Even if Netflix paid FIFA double the rights fee from '23 (which I doubt they did), the net cost to acquire one of the biggest month long sporting events in the world is only 1.5% of their annual projected content spend - I'd do that deal all day long! (And still wonder where ESPN was in this bidding process?!)

As content companies figure out their next move in attracting and keeping younger audiences engaged the answer is the women's game. It's clearly an under valued media asset in an attention driven economy where sports trumps all other content.

#trailblazing

Trailblazing Sports Group