Is the streaming king prepared for a game of football?
The NFL’s two main events are scheduled to air on Netflix for the first time: the Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans at 4:30 p.m. ET and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. ET. Beyonc will play songs from her Cowboy Carter country album live for the first time at the latter game’s halftime show.
As it doubles down on live events programming and seeks to provide more than 280 million customers real-time material that was once the sole purview of traditional television networks, the games are a crucial test for the streaming behemoth. However, in the midst of the excitement, the company is questioned about its ability to webcast these events without experiencing any technological issues.
The highly anticipated boxing battle between social media celebrity Jake Paul and retired professional Mike Tyson highlighted the issues. With a peak of 65 million concurrent streams, Netflix dubbed the fight on November 15 the most-streamed sporting event ever. However, a lot of people were annoyed by the livestream’s buffering problems.
According to media consultant and former Fox Sports executive Patrick Crakes, “glitchy” is a kind way to describe it.
Similarly, after airing a Chris Rock stand-up comedy special the month before, the streamer’s Love Is Blind reunion special in April 2023 was postponed due to what one of the company’s top executives described as a technical glitch that had been inadvertently introduced in an attempt to improve live broadcasting.
While on an earnings call last year, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters stated, “We didn’t meet the standard that we expect from ourselves to serve our members.”
Netflix claimed to have researched problems from past live events and made the required changes in the lead-up to the major holiday NFL games. According to people familiar with the situation, the changes include Netflix depending more on outside companies like Comcast and Charter Communications, which are providing it with additional capacity. (NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, is owned by Comcast.)
The NFL’s media department, which signed a three-year contract with Netflix to broadcast some games, is optimistic about the bandwidth of the streaming service.
Brian Rolapp, the league’s chief media and commercial officer, told CNBC, “I think the evolution of the medium is getting there.” Additionally, I believe they are doing everything they can to ensure a wonderful Christmas Day.
Another significant streaming provider that has made a stronger push into high-profile events that were previously shown on cable or broadcast networks is Netflix.
The NFL’s Thursday Night Football is exclusively available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Through its ESPN tile, Disney+ simulcasts athletic events, and the Warner Bros. Max app streams NBA games and CNN newscasts that were previously exclusively available on TNT. As the streaming hub for the Paris Olympics, NBCUniversal’s Peacock platform attracted a substantial viewership this summer.
Weekly World Wrestling Entertainment Raw programs, which begin streaming in less than two weeks, are among the more well-known live events that Netflix has scheduled. The FIFA Women’s World Cup will thereafter be place on Netflix in 2027 and 2031. The 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards were streamed live on Netflix in late February, demonstrating the company’s interest in livestreaming Hollywood award presentations.
According to Crakes, the former executive of Fox Sports, everyone will need to adjust to locating their material across a variety of distribution channels.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!