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The UFC is free to negotiate with any potential partner as talks heat up for the company’s next broadcast rights deal but is Netflix already out of the running?
As a seven-year deal with ESPN comes to an end at the close of 2025, the UFC is reportedly seeking around $1 billion per year with the new broadcast rights deal. With WWE inking a massive 5 year, $10 billion contract to bring Monday Night Raw to Netflix, there was immediate speculation that the UFC might do the same considering they’re both owned by TKO Group Holdings.
That said, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was asked about the company’s interest in UFC or other sports rights available right now such as Major League Baseball but he seemed to double down on the streaming service staying mostly focused on one-off events rather than investing in an entire broadcast rights package.
I’m not going to comment on any of those specific opportunities at this time,” Sarandos said during a Netflix investors’ call when asked about UFC and other sports properties. “But I will steer you back to the letter to show you that our live event strategy is unchanged. We remain really focused on the big, breakthrough events. Our audiences love them.
“So anything we chase in the event space or the sports space is a deal that would have to make economic sense as well. Live is a relatively small part of our content spend. We have about 200 billion view hours so small relative to view hours, too. But that said, all viewing is not equal. What we have seen with live is this very outsized positives around conversation and acquisition and we suspect retention. We’re really excited to keep building on that.”
The “big, breakthrough events” in the past have included the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson that ended up producing more than 235 million watch hours, which actually crushed a pair of NFL games shown on Christmas Day this past year.
Netflix also benefitted from The Roast of Tom Brady, which was a one-night live event where comedians, former teammates and even UFC CEO Dana White poked fun at the NFL legend.
Next up for Netflix is a boxing rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in July from Madison Square Garden in New York. Unless strategy changes, Sarandos seemed to hint that Netflix remains more interested in those type of events rather than a bigger investment in a total sports rights package.
“We have the Taylor-Serrano fight in July. That’s a rematch from when they fought the first time on the [Mike] Tyson-[Jake] Paul fight night. It was the most watched women’s sporting event in U.S. history,” Sarandos said. “So there’s a lot of excitement on that. The NFL, of course, is a great property. We’re happy to have the Christmas day games that we opted into the second NFL game for Christmas day so we’ll be presenting all-day football again on Dec. 25, 2025. Really exciting.
“Then today our live adventures have all been primarily in the U.S. but we intend to grow the capability to do it around the world in the years ahead. Very pleased with the progress so far and excited about the future for live sports and non-sports.”
www.mmafighting.com
As a seven-year deal with ESPN comes to an end at the close of 2025, the UFC is reportedly seeking around $1 billion per year with the new broadcast rights deal. With WWE inking a massive 5 year, $10 billion contract to bring Monday Night Raw to Netflix, there was immediate speculation that the UFC might do the same considering they’re both owned by TKO Group Holdings.
That said, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was asked about the company’s interest in UFC or other sports rights available right now such as Major League Baseball but he seemed to double down on the streaming service staying mostly focused on one-off events rather than investing in an entire broadcast rights package.
I’m not going to comment on any of those specific opportunities at this time,” Sarandos said during a Netflix investors’ call when asked about UFC and other sports properties. “But I will steer you back to the letter to show you that our live event strategy is unchanged. We remain really focused on the big, breakthrough events. Our audiences love them.
“So anything we chase in the event space or the sports space is a deal that would have to make economic sense as well. Live is a relatively small part of our content spend. We have about 200 billion view hours so small relative to view hours, too. But that said, all viewing is not equal. What we have seen with live is this very outsized positives around conversation and acquisition and we suspect retention. We’re really excited to keep building on that.”
The “big, breakthrough events” in the past have included the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson that ended up producing more than 235 million watch hours, which actually crushed a pair of NFL games shown on Christmas Day this past year.
Netflix also benefitted from The Roast of Tom Brady, which was a one-night live event where comedians, former teammates and even UFC CEO Dana White poked fun at the NFL legend.
Next up for Netflix is a boxing rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in July from Madison Square Garden in New York. Unless strategy changes, Sarandos seemed to hint that Netflix remains more interested in those type of events rather than a bigger investment in a total sports rights package.
“We have the Taylor-Serrano fight in July. That’s a rematch from when they fought the first time on the [Mike] Tyson-[Jake] Paul fight night. It was the most watched women’s sporting event in U.S. history,” Sarandos said. “So there’s a lot of excitement on that. The NFL, of course, is a great property. We’re happy to have the Christmas day games that we opted into the second NFL game for Christmas day so we’ll be presenting all-day football again on Dec. 25, 2025. Really exciting.
“Then today our live adventures have all been primarily in the U.S. but we intend to grow the capability to do it around the world in the years ahead. Very pleased with the progress so far and excited about the future for live sports and non-sports.”
Netflix co-CEO casts doubt on interest in UFC after revealing streamer staying focused on ‘big, breakthrough events’
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wouldn’t comment directly on the streamer’s interest in the UFC’s broadcast rights but his declaration that the network is mostly interested in "big, breakthrough events" casts doubt that they’ll get involved in the bidding.
www.mmafighting.com
