In the era of streaming services, we're witnessing a significant shift in the world of live sports. A growing number of sports enthusiasts are cutting ties with traditional cable TV subscriptions in favor of streaming services that provide them with a better bang for their buck. However, when it comes to this streaming revolution, there's one major player that seems to be falling behind: Netflix.
Countless subscribers have been wondering whether the streaming giant will finally step up its game and bring live sports streaming to its platform. Netflix's CEO, Ted Sarandos, addressed this topic during the recent quarterly earnings Q&A, saying: Our position in live sports remains unchanged. We're super excited about the success of our sports-adjacent programming. We just had it recently — just launched a great one called Quarterback with the NFL. A few weeks ago, we had Tour de France, which did exactly what we saw with Drive to Survive, which is introduced to a brand new audience to a sport that's been around for a really long time and not very well understood and you do that through exceptional storytelling, not through the liveness of the game. Sarandos' claim about the streamer's sports-adjacent programming has been validated by Formula 1: Drive to Survive. The acclaimed docuseries delves into the world of Formula 1 teams and has received high praise for its behind-the-scenes perspective.
According to Nielsen ratings, the show was a key factor in the remarkable 20% surge in interest in the sport. On top of that, the American research firm projected that Formula 1 was well on its way to amassing an incredible 1 billion fans.