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With the rise of streaming services such as Hulu, YouTube TV, and others, the combination of sports broadcasting and streaming services is unavoidable. Due to the strong rise of live sports broadcasting, Netflix is also incorporating it into their service. Despite the popularity of live sports broadcasting, Netflix should steer clear of it on their platform.
Netflix, since it adopted the movie streaming aspect in 2007, has been known primarily for its original series and extensive library of on-demand content; however, Netflix has recently made a $5 billion-plus deal in order to acquire a major set of WWE live broadcasting rights with plans to venture into other live events. However, this plan to expand may not be in the service’s best interest.
First of all, the move to venture into live sports broadcasting poses significant challenges for the streaming service. Unlike traditional sports streaming services, Netflix fails to possess the infrastructure necessary to seamlessly integrate and deliver live sports contents to millions of its subscribers, making it difficult to provide high-quality streaming and real-time updates, which are all necessary for live sports broadcasting.
While the idea of live sports streaming coming to Netflix may seem exciting, Netflix should resist the urge to venture into the territory. Previous experiments relating to live sports events on the platform such as The Netflix Cup, a golf event made up of Formula 1 drivers, have proved to yield mixed results with varying viewership rates and engagement. Without a clear indication of sustainability of interest and profitability, investing in live sports broadcasting could prove to be a costly mistake for Netflix.
By staying true to its identity and its original vision to deliver compelling pre-recorded on demand content that resonates with its audience, Netflix can maintain its leading position in the streaming industry well without the need to venture into live sports broadcasting.