Because the UFC prepares to embark on presumably the largest yr within the promotion’s historical past with a brand new broadcast rights deal on the horizon, Netflix has emerged as a well-liked potential vacation spot and associate.
At present, the UFC has a broadcast cope with ESPN that expires on the finish of 2025 with an unique negotiating window with the Disney owned community that runs by way of April 15. After that date, the UFC can start fielding affords from different potential suitors with many analysts and insiders pegging Netflix as maybe the very best touchdown spot for the group.
On Tuesday, Netflix revealed that the streaming service added one other 19 million subscribers within the fourth quarter of 2024 with 302 million subscribers worldwide now. Add to that, Netflix only in the near past inked a $5 billion, 10 yr broadcast deal WWE’s flagship present Monday Evening Uncooked and it’s no secret that WWE and UFC are owned by the identical firm now at TKO Group Holdings.
Whereas Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wouldn’t touch upon the corporate’s potential curiosity in acquiring the UFC’s broadcast rights, he had nothing however reward for the connection being constructed with WWE.
“Not going to remark something particularly just like the UFC however WWE is off to an excellent begin,” Sarandos mentioned on a quarterly monetary name with traders. “The primary week we drew about 5 million views, which is about two instances the viewers that Monday Evening Uncooked was getting in linear tv. Fairly according to how we modeled it, how we’d hope to construct the viewers for the league. We additionally noticed that the non-live viewings and the day after the reside occasion, our viewing grew by 25 p.c, largely outdoors of the U.S. time zones.
“So that is new viewing within the U.Okay. and Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil specifically are actually huge markets. So we’re actually thrilled to see how that’s going to this point. Within the U.S., our viewing of Monday Evening Uncooked was as huge because the Monday Evening Uncooked viewing has been in 5 years. So we’re tremendous thrilled with how that’s going and the way that’s popping out.”
The UFC is looking for an enormous enhance within the new broadcast rights cope with reviews surfacing that the corporate hopes for greater than $1 billion per yr for the entire package deal that features struggle playing cards working yr spherical with out a typical season lengthy format like most main sports activities leagues. TKO president Mark Shapiro has even mentioned previously that for the correct worth, the UFC would think about together with pay-per-view broadcasts as a part of a cope with these premium occasions airing for a broadcast associate with out the present $79.99 worth connected.
That’s an fascinating caveat contemplating Netflix did a deal to broadcast the latest Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson struggle with the occasion costing nothing additional for subscribers. The struggle drew over 100 million viewers at one level with Netflix boasting that it was “probably the most streamed sporting occasion ever” when releasing financials for the fourth quarter of 2024.
Netflix additionally lately bought extra concerned with reside sports activities after inking a cope with the NFL for a pair of video games that aired on Christmas, which Sarandos revealed pulled 30 and 31 million viewers respectively.
“We’re continually attempting to broaden our programming,” Sarandos mentioned. “Dwell occasions is a type of issues and sports activities is a part of these reside occasions. Once I take a look at this and say that’s a extremely unbelievable factor but it surely doesn’t actually change the underlying economics of full season, huge league sports activities being extraordinarily difficult.
“So if there was a path the place we might really make the economics work for each us and the league, we’d definitely would discover. However proper now we consider that the reside occasions enterprise is the place we actually wish to be and sports activities is an important a part of that however it’s a part of that enlargement.”
What makes the UFC such a horny addition to the lineup is that not like even the NFL or NBA, there is no such thing as a offseason for MMA, which suggests there’s no lull in programming.
Sarandos particularly talked about the challenges to make financials work for a typical season run league and which will function an excellent larger trace that working with a promotion just like the UFC makes extra sense than attempting to land one of many main sports activities equivalent to soccer or basketball.
“To not be overly repetitive however we’re going to be conscious of the underside line,” Sarandos mentioned. “It’s actually vital that these economics do work and that the large league sports activities full season economics are very arduous to make work.
“So for us, we wish to have the ability to deliver worth to the game like we now have up to now with WWE definitely however like we now have with the NFL, too, the place we have been principally capable of deliver a giant viewers, a younger viewers, a extra world viewers than linear tv however that must be mirrored within the deal as effectively.”
