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It pays for all stakeholders — except the fans, whom it will cost, literally and figuratively
Netflix announced today that it will have exclusive U.S. rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments.
Netflix has exclusive U.S. rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments!
BlueSky users were not happy with Netflix’s announcement:
Oh no horrible news. You have shown time and time again that live TV isn’t your thing, bestie. Please stick to non-live streaming and don’t punish women’s soccer fans with your ego and ineptitude
Because we’ve seen how great you are at streaming live events!
It’s not hard to understand why social media users are having these sentiments. A move like this is problematic for a number of reasons, not least because compartmentalizing viewing experiences onto different platforms serves to benefit mostly the stakeholders who make millions from the partnerships, and less so the viewers. For example, Apple is paying major league soccer (MLS) $250 million annually for 10 years in their partnership, which has left MLS fans who were previously watching games on the cable TV they already paid for, disgruntled.
Now, women’s soccer fans will face a similar fate, having to pay the $15.49/month standard pricing ad-free for Netflix to watch what could (or should) be included in another service they are already paying for. More casual women’s soccer viewers may find themselves shut out completely as they lose the experience of flipping over to the game in search of something to watch – a severe stunting of the growth of women’s soccer, which has had momentum since the 2024 summer Olympics.
Soccer journalist Kyle Bonn took to X with similar things to say:
The next two Women’s World Cups being on a purely streaming-only platform is a massive step back for the growth of women’s soccer. This is a huge disappointment. https://t.co/QDnysUETV0
This doesn’t even take into account the media who report on these tournaments now finding themselves out $15.49/month as well.
On the Apple and MLS partnership, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in 2023, “If we’re wrong and the world doesn’t go into the streaming environment the way we think it is, then you’ve just got to be smart, make a decision and if it’s not the right decision, you figure out what you need to do to go forward.” This makes it sound like a shot-in-the-dark, which fosters even less confidence in the decision to solely stream on Netflix what is going to be an exciting and groundbreaking couple of tournaments in the world of women’s soccer.
Another blow is that Apple TV’s MLS viewership for the 2024 final was down almost 50% from the previous year. John Lewis, founder of Sports Media Watch, said, “You now have a viewer base that consists of people who have to affirmatively seek out MLS. And the number of people who would affirmatively seek out MLS rather than just come across it… is not as high as I think a lot of people might think.” The same idea can be applied to WoSo.
The NWSL nearly reached one million average viewers for their most recent championship final on CBS. The USWNT has hit multiple viewership records on live TV networks too. After gaining so much momentum over the past decade, this could potentially be a massive setback for the women’s game.
On the other hand, maybe every Netflix user will become a women’s soccer aficionado?
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