Netflix Sports Strategy Unchanged Despite Growth: Events, Not Seasons

Wall Street is a notoriously tough place, even for successful companies, but Netflix is now basking in the glow of what industry analysts are calling a “near flawless” quarter. That, in turn, has set up even bigger expectations for 2025 that will feature a heightened presence by the company in live sports. 

The streaming giant on Wednesday enjoyed more plaudits from a particularly robust quarterly report the day before that included better-than-expected subscriber growth to 301.6 million globally and hefty increases in both revenue and net income. Investors responded enthusiastically, sending up shares in Netflix early Wednesday by more than 15% to a new company high of nearly $1,000 per share. The stock later retreated somewhat, but still finished the day up by nearly 10% to a record close of $953.99 per share. 

Wall Street is continually on the hunt for aggressive growth, and hopeful prospects for the future. With an industry-leading subscriber count and an expanding business model based more on live events, Netflix is delivering that—and then some. 

“Our view remains unchanged that Netflix has won the global streaming race,” Jeffrey Wlodarczak, media analyst with Pivotal Research Group, wrote in a note to investors. “This is what, in our opinion, winning looks like.” 

Sports Role

A key element in that accelerating growth, of course, is Netflix’s increasing presence in live sports that now includes the NFL, boxing, WWE’s Raw, and beginning in 2027, the FIFA Women’s World Cup. 

Still, company executives were quick to reiterate in a call with analysts late Tuesday that they will continue to resist pursuing full-season sports rights, preferring instead to continue on its big-event strategy. 

“We are constantly trying to broaden our programming. Live events [are] one of those things, and sports is part of those live events,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. “That’s a really fantastic thing, but it doesn’t really change the underlying economics of full-season, big-league sports being extremely challenging.

“If there was a path where we could actually make the economics work, for both us and the leagues, we would certainly explore [it]. But right now, we believe that the live events business is where we really want to be,” Sarandos said. 

New Pricing

Perhaps the biggest threat to Netflix is consumer pushback to a set of price increases also introduced late Tuesday. 

Mirroring price hikes seen at many other places in the streaming business, the new structure will introduce increases of $1 to $2.50 per month. Plans will now range from $7.99 for the lowest, ad-supported tier to $24.99 per month for the highest, premium-level tier. The latter figure is more than twice as high as what that tier cost in 2013. 

Netflix, however, insisted its programming will be able to withstand any resistance to that new pricing. 

“When you’re going to ask for a price increase, you better make sure you have the goods and engagement to back it up, and I feel like what we have going into 2025 is just that,” Sarandos said.