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Streaming platforms globally spent US$10 billion on sports rights in 2024 as the likes of Netflix and Amazon secured major new broadcast deals, according to a new study from Ampere Analysis.
The significant increase in the global spend on sports rights by streaming platforms in 2024 can be attributed to some notable deals from Netflix and Amazon.
Last January, Netflix agreed a ten-year deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to become the exclusive global broadcaster of Monday Night Raw, including in the US, from 2025 in an agreement worth approximately US$5 billion.
Netflix followed this up by agreeing a US$150 million deal with the National Football League (NFL) for the global broadcast rights to at least one live game on Christmas Day for the next three years. Most recently, the service secured the rights to exclusively broadcast the next two editions of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in the US.
Meanwhile, last year saw Amazon agree an 11-year domestic broadcast deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Amazon will pay US$1.8 billion a season to stream 66 regular season games on Thursdays, Fridays and selected Saturdays, while it will also be the exclusive home of the knockout stages of the NBA Cup in-season tournament.
It has also acquired playoff matches, a conference series every other year, and a Black Friday game, allowing it to offer NBA and NFL coverage on the busiest shopping day of the year.
Ahead of its WWE broadcasting debut this month, Netflix’s vice president for nonfiction series and sports Brandon Riegg said the streaming service will continue to explore “opportunistic” deals in sports moving forward. Mark Shapiro, the president and chief operating officer of TKO, has said he expects the streaming giant “at the table” for rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), whose current broadcast deal with ESPN expires this year.
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