GENEVA: Netflix has secured the US broadcasting rights to the Womenâs World Cup in 2027 and 2031 as the streaming giant continues its push into live sports.
The deal announced Friday is the most significant FIFA has signed with a streaming service for a major tournament. The value was not given, though international competitions in womenâs soccer have struggled to draw high-value offers.
âBringing this iconic tournament to Netflix isnât just about streaming matches,â its chief content officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement. âItâs also about celebrating the players, the culture and the passion driving the global rise of womenâs sport.â
Netflix dipped into live sports last month with more than 60 million households watching a heavily hyped boxing match between retired heavyweight legend Mike Tyson and social media personality Jake Paul. Some viewers reported streaming problems, however.
Netflix also will broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day: the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans. Thatâs part of a three-year deal announced in May.
World Cups are typically broadcast on free-to-air public networks to reach the biggest audiences, and the last womenâs edition in 2023 earned FIFA less than 10 percent of the menâs 2022 World Cup.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino had publicly criticized public broadcasters, especially in Europe, for undervaluing offers to broadcast the 2023 tournament that was played in Australia and New Zealand. That tournament was broadcast by Fox in the US
âThis agreement sends a strong message about the real value of the FIFA Womenâs World Cup and the global womenâs game,â Infantino said.
The World Cup rights mark another major step in Netflixâs push into live programming. Itâs recipe that Netflix has cooked up to help sell more advertising, a top priority for the company since it introduced a low-priced version of its streaming service that includes commercials two years ago. The ad-supported version is now the fastest growing part of Netflixâs service, although most of its 283 million worldwide subscribers still pay for higher-priced options without commercial.
But Netflix is still trying to sell more ads to boost its revenue, which is expected to be about $30 billion. Netflix executives have predicted it might take two or three years before its ad sales become a major part of its revenue.
Netflix expects to spend about $17 billion on programming this year â a budget that the Los Gatos, California, company once funneled almost entirely into scripted TV series and movies. But Netflix is now allocating a significant chunk of that money to sports and live events, a shift that has made it a formidable competitor to traditional media bidding for the same rights.
FIFA will likely use the Netflix deal to drive talks with European broadcasters that likely will be hardball negotiations.
Soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire, a co-host of The Price of Football podcast, suggested the deal was âa bit of a gambleâ for FIFA and âsaber-rattlingâ by Infantino.
â(Netflix) get experience of football broadcasting, FIFA can say, âwe are now partnering with a blue chip organization, so watch out you nasty Europeans,ââ Maguire, an academic at the University of Liverpool, said in a telephone interview.
FIFA and Infantino also want to raise the price of broadcast deals to help fund increased prize money and close the gender pay gap on the menâs World Cup.
At the menâs 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 32 team federations shared $440 million in prize money. For the womenâs 2023 tournament, FIFA had a $152 million total fund for prize money, contributions to teamsâ preparation costs and payments to playersâ clubs.
In FIFAâs financial accounts for 2023, the soccer body reported total broadcasting revenue of $244 million. In the year of the menâs 2022 World Cup it was almost $2.9 billion.
The next Womenâs World Cup will be a 32-team, 64-game tournament in 2027, played in Brazil from June 24-July 25. The US originally bid jointly with Mexico.
The 2031 host has not been decided, though the US likely will bid for a tournament which FIFA is expected to try to expand to 48 teams. That would match the size of the 104-game format of the menâs World Cup that debuts in 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Spain won the 2023 Womenâs World Cup after the US won the two previous titles â in France in 2019 and Canada in 2015.
More than 25 million viewers in the US watched the 2015 World Cup final, a 5-2 win over Japan, played in Vancouver, Canada, in a time zone similarly favorable to Brazil.
FIFA tried to sign Apple+ to an exclusive global deal to broadcast the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup which is being played in 11 US cities next June and July.
Broadcast networks showed little interest in the FIFA club event that will now be broadcast for free on streaming service DAZN, which is building closer business ties to ¶¶Òő¶ÌÊÓÆ”.
Ahead of the next Womenâs World Cup, Netflix will âproduce exclusive documentary series in the lead-up to both tournaments, spotlighting the worldâs top players, their journeys and the global growth of womenâs football,â FIFA said.