Statement of Live Sports Streams from Netflix CEO

Netflix, which left behind a turbulent period due to losing a record number of subscribers, has been coming up with many different innovations recently. For example, the platform has launched its advertising subscription system in some countries in the past months. The allegations in the past weeks showed that Netflix plans to buy the rights of some leagues to broadcast live sports, and excited users.

However, there was no official statement about broadcasting live sports from the platform itself. Now, a statement about this very curious subject came directly from Netflix’s boss. Company CEO Ted Sarandos denied the claims that the platform will broadcast live sports, saying that they have no such plans for now.

Netflix doesn’t see live sports streaming as a profitable avenue

According to Variety, Sarandos stated at a conference held in New York yesterday that they do not see leasing major sports events as a profitable way. “We are not anti-sports, just pro-profit,” the 58-year-old executive noted that Netflix already has a large audience.

Tech giants like Amazon and Apple have been aggressive about rights to sports broadcasts for their digital platforms. Therefore, there were rumors that Netflix, which had some problems, could make a similar move. The platform lost 1.7 million subscribers in the first half of 2022; however, it managed to gain 2.4 million net subscribers in the third quarter of the year. As of the end of September, it was stated that the platform continued its leadership in its field with 223.1 million users.

While expressing that they are happy to leave 2022 behind like most companies, Sarandos stated that they expect to accelerate revenue growth again in 2023, and added that they will continue to produce content that benefits them, such as reality shows.

Netflix may offer multiple ad subscription systems

There were also statements about the advertising subscription system, which was launched in 12 countries at a price of $ 6.99 last month. The cinema and TV series platform does not expect this system to provide much financial benefit in the fourth quarter; However, it has been reported that he is quite optimistic in the long term. Netflix’s other CEO, Reed Hastings, said in a statement last week that this is a good tactic because it offers a cheaper price, and said, “I wish we had removed the advertising subscription a few years ago.”

Sarandos also said that the advertising system opens itself up to those who are price-conscious and open to watching ads. He also stated that the content that is not included in the subscription with ads (due to contracts that require ads not to be published) represents approximately 10% and that they will continue to renegotiate the rights.

The CEO also signaled that there may be more than one advertising subscription system, as reported by CNBC. Saying that there is no certainty yet, Sarandos said: “We have multiple plans today, so we will probably have more than one advertising plan in the future. However, there is nothing to talk about yet. I think this service will develop slowly and gradually.”