Netflix is adamant that it’s not thinking about reside Sports Activities.

“We’re within the sports activities enterprise, however we’re within the a part of the sports activities enterprise that we convey probably the most worth to, which is the drama of Sport, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos mentioned on the corporate’s third-quarter earnings name.

Sarandos was referring to sports activities docu-series reminiscent of Drive To Survive, Full Swing, Quarterback and Beckham.

He added that there was no “core change” in its Reside Sports Activities technique. This comes after Netflix set its first reside sports activities occasion.

The streamer is internet hosting The Netflix Cup, a golf event that options drivers from its Method 1: Drive To Survive sequence and golfers from its Full Swing present.

Kicking off on November 14 at an 18-hole championship golf course, across the Method 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix, the occasion marks the primary time that Netflix has even dipped its toes right into a reside sports activities occasion.

In The Netflix Cup, 4 pairs consisting of 1 driver and one golfer will play an eight-hole match with the highest two groups advancing to the ultimate gap. The rosters contains Method 1 drivers Alex Albon (Williams Racing); Pierre Gasly (BWT Alpine F1 Crew); Lando Norris (McLaren Racing); and Carlos Sainz (Scuderia Ferrari), and PGA Tour golfers Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas.

Netflix’s rivals have been bolstering their sports activities protection; Google-owned YouTube purchased the rights to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket, Amazon Prime Video has Thursday Evening Soccer amongst different rights and Apple TV+ has rights throughout Main League Baseball and Main League Soccer.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has lengthy talked about not getting concerned in reside sports activities, saying that it has not “seen a profit path” from “renting big-league sports”.

“We’re not saying there never will be,” he mentioned,” however “dramatically expensive” rights have made sports activities successfully a “loss leader.”

“We’re not anti-sports,” Sarandos added. “We’re just pro-profit. We have yet to figure out how to do it.”

He additionally hasn’t beforehand seen the worth in area of interest sports activities the place rights are cheaper. “I don’t know that those sports suffer from being under-distributed,” Sarandos has mentioned. “So, I don’t know that we’d bring that much to them.”

Having mentioned all of this, Netflix was reportedly eager to accumulate the rights to Method 1 within the U.S. however misplaced out to Disney-owned ESPN.

Provided that Sarandos additionally beforehand mentioned that it was not thinking about an promoting plan for its service and it launched one final 12 months, take what he says with a pinch of salt.

However Sarandos reiterated that regardless of this sports activities technique, it was persevering with to “invest heavily” in its reside capabilities, which hampered its reunion present for courting format Love Is Blind.

“As the demand grows for that and we find different ways, the liveness can be part of the creative storytelling and we want to be able to do that a big scale,” he added.