Netflix lets CBS Sports produce NFL Christmas games

The world's largest streamer will partner with traditional NFL broadcaster CBS Sports for the highly anticipated Christmas Day games.

According to a report in The Wall Street JournalNetflix will produce live streams of the NFL with help from CBS. The news comes nearly three months after the streamer announced it had reached an agreement with the league to broadcast the games.

The one-year deal only covers the production of the games themselves, not the provision of on-air talent. However, Netflix could still choose to contact CBS talent itself, but WSJ Reports suggest the company could also go in a different direction. In exchange for the camera and production crews, CBS will receive a production fee for both games, as well as commercials on both streams for its own programming.

On the famous schedule release day of May 15, the league announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers will host the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans will host the Baltimore Ravens. With Christmas falling on a Wednesday this year, this upcoming holiday will mark the third time since 1946 that the NFL has had games on this day of the week.

While Netflix's recent move into live sports has generated a lot of buzz, there have been reports that the Los Gatos, California-based company has not yet decided who will produce its games package. The only viable options were Fox or CBS, as NBC already handles production of Thursday Night Football for Amazon.

A major hurdle for Netflix, however, is that it cannot sell space in games to advertisers. According to previous media reports, the company had charged $800,000 per space. Compared to Amazon's NFL stream on Black Friday, where consumers are already hunting for Christmas gifts the day after Thanksgiving, there is minimal consumer activity on Christmas Day itself, which could make these advertising buys relatively ineffective.

There are also concerns about the live stream itself. Netflix's infrastructure supports multiplexing and not live streaming at scale, so many potential advertisers are not entirely convinced of the feed's reliability. These brands would fear a situation like the tech collapse in April 2023, as Love is blind Live reunion show.

The NFL is obviously hoping that Netflix and CBS won't be coming up with any cash on Christmas Day. By giving Netflix two games on the holiday, the league hopes to capitalize on the huge ratings outside of home games. Sport As reported in January, Nielsen will expand its out-of-home measurement to all 210 designated media markets, significantly more than the 44 it has been tracking for some time. Although the impact will not be felt until after Super Bowl LIX airs on Fox next February, all sports on television are expected to see ratings increase starting in 2025.

With support from Anthony Crupi.