Netflix Pushes Into Live TV

Netflix is ramping up its push into live TV with a growing slate of programs that could catapult the streamer into dominating the exact model it disrupted.

The Big Picture: Netflix has officially won the streaming wars. By making live TV a new cornerstone for the company, Netflix could ensure that advertising revenue is juiced from all its customers… not just subscribers to its growing ad tier.

Behind The Scenes: Netflix is on the final stretch up the experimental phase of its live TV ambitions.

• It’s tested the waters successfully with a Chris Rock comedy special and a roast of Tom Brady… and not so successfully with a Love Is Blind reunion.
• The Love Is Blind reunion failure led Netflix to put its technology through the wringer to ensure that it wouldn’t happen again — during a live cooking show with David Chang, it shut off its west-coast servers to see if its east-coast servers alone could handle the traffic.
• The streamer is also building up a sports strategy through escalating “low-profile” events, per Bloomberg — it’s shown a live tennis match, golf competition, and hot dog-eating contest, and it has a boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson next.
• But the biggest challenge will be two NFL games on Christmas Day (which may have a live concert at halftime). That’ll be followed by three hours of weekly WWE wrestling starting next year.

Closing Credits: Network and cable TV were moneymakers for so long due to ad revenue — ads were guaranteed to be seen because those were the only outlets available, and live events and competitions were considered marquee moments. That’s no longer the case as viewers have increasingly cut the cord. 

Ad tiers are bringing some of that revenue back, but most users are subscribed to premium plans to avoid seeing ads. Since Netflix plans to put ads on live programs — regardless of users’ subscription plans — the rich returns of linear TV could be streaming’s for the taking.