Netflix has up-and-down first foray into NFL broadcasting after early glitch

If you believe in omens, Netflix appeared to be in for a very long day on Wednesday. As the streaming giant began its NFL pregame show prior to airing the Kansas City Chiefs’ 29-10 blowout over the Pittsburgh Steelers, viewers were welcomed to the broadcast … with immediate audio issues.

Viewers could not hear studio host Kay Adams’ voice during her intro for the first 20 seconds or so of the broadcast. Then, about nine minutes later, as studio analyst Mina Kimes offered interesting analysis of Kansas City’s challenge on the offensive line, she was cut off inexplicably by a promo for Squid Game 2. (The Frontman from Squid Game would not like such inefficiency.)

That was the story at 11:11 a.m. ET, and it wasn’t a good one.

Things got better for the most part after that, though. I had a number of people contact me within the sports industry who suffered some buffering issues in the fourth quarter. NFL viewers didn’t want a lot for Christmas but there was one thing they needed. They didn’t care about presents underneath the Christmas tree or even a transcendent pregame show. But they did need Netflix to solve the major buffering and freezing issues that plagued the streamer during the boxing event headlined by Mike Tyson-Jake Paul last month.

(Apologies for the tortured Mariah Carey reference.) They solved them for the most part —The Athletic will update how things went for the Ravens-Texans and Beyonce’s performance.

The big picture, of course, is the burgeoning relationship between the NFL and Netflix. The streaming giant and the NFL announced a three-season deal in May to air Christmas Day games in 2024, 2025 and 2026. That deal becomes even more magnified given Netflix recently secured the exclusive broadcast rights in the United States for the 2027 and 2031 editions of the Women’s World Cup.

These are significant signals to the marketplace that Netflix is moving from a focus on sports adjacent properties to a legitimate sports rights holder. So is another Netflix foray into live events — the company’s deal for exclusive rights to WWE Raw, the long-running weekly pro wrestling staple.

Netflix paid $150 million to air Wednesday’s games. That’s a rounding error for a company that has 282.3 million subscribers in over 190 countries.

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Netflix’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson streaming issues raise Christmas concerns for NFL

In a piece on Monday focusing on Netflix avoiding Christmas Day glitches, The Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix didn’t sufficiently prepare its own content-delivery systems or its internet service provider partners for the surge of traffic for the Tyson-Paul card. The Journal reported Netflix’s early internal estimates project that the football games could draw as many as 35 million concurrent streams globally. Last year’s Chiefs-Raiders broadcast averaged 29.2 million on CBS and Nickelodeon, the largest Christmas NFL number since 1989.

One significant difference between the Paul-Tyson event and Netflix’s NFL Christmas production was the outsourcing of production: CBS handled the game broadcast while NFL Media was charged with the pregame, halftime and postgame shows. That meant a rare mixture of NFL staffers from CBS, ESPN, NBC, NFL Network and Fox.

It was a gig that was highly coveted as if you are a front-facing NFL TV person — think of the long-term potential regarding having a professional relationship with Netflix. Multiple talent agents who were granted anonymity to speak freely told The Athletic that Netflix paid talent between high five figures and low six figures depending on the role (with game talent getting paid on the higher end).

This is why every sports broadcaster wants a relationship with Netflix.

As for the quality of pregame content, it was what you’d expect from groups working together for the first time — misses and minor hits. Drew Brees, who has a desire to return to broadcasting, was part of the pregame show and also the international broadcast. It will be interesting to see if this leads to more work. Laura Rutledge, Jason McCourty and Devin McCourty had easy chemistry. The ad load for viewers was a lot.

One thing Netflix did get right was using established broadcasters for the game broadcast. The Chiefs-Steelers booth featured Ian Eagle, Nate Burleson and J.J. Watt and sideline reporters Stacey Dales and Melanie Collins. It was what you’d expect — professional and informative.

Watt smartly acknowledged at the top that he was calling his brother’s (Steelers lineman T.J. Watt) game and what that meant (Don’t hide the obvious). There were some game issues early. The national anthem audio was a tick off and the Steelers oddly started the game with two timeouts on the graphics instead of three (It was fixed).

The fourth quarter stuff is going to understandably frustrate those viewers who are used to zero issues with over-the-air networks and cable outside of local broadband outages.

“Netflix is still in the discovery phase,” Ed Desser, the president of Desser Sports Media Inc. and a senior media executive for the NBA for 23 years, told The Athletic earlier this month. “This is an R&D measure for them, and they will learn from it.”

It wasn’t anywhere near the best of NFL presentations but the stream held for the most part. That’s a win for Netflix and the NFL for now but they still have a long way to go here.