A New Era For Netflix Is Officially Beginning

Netflix is officially entering a new era, as the streaming giant has reached a deal for the FIFA World Cup 2030, but there’s a catch. Although there’s now a wide variety of streaming platforms to choose from – some requiring a subscription and others offering diverse content for free –, Netflix continues to be one of the biggest and most popular streamers. With its combination of licensed content and original productions, Netflix has built an extensive catalog for viewers of all ages and with different movie and TV preferences.

Netflix has a variety of content across different genres, housing and producing some of the best TV shows of all time. However, there’s one area of modern streaming TV that Netflix hasn’t quite mastered yet: live sports events, but that is about to change. While Netflix has aired live events of different types before, the streamer is now going big with the exclusive rights to broadcast every match of the FIFA World Cup 2030 – however, this deal is only for subscribers in Spain and Andorra.

The FIFA World Cup 2030 will mark the 100th anniversary of the most important event in soccer, which makes Netflix’s deal even more important and impressive. On top of that, Spain, the defending FIFA World Cup 2026 champion, will be one of the hosts of the 2030 World Cup along with Morocco and Portugal. Netflix broadcasting the 2030 FIFA World Cup marks the start of a new era for the streamer, and it could be a game-changer.

Netflix Is Going Big On Live Events

In addition to streaming every match of the FIFA World Cup 2030, Netflix will also bring additional full live coverage, such as pregame, halftime, and post-game shows, daily roundups, and more. The FIFA World Cup 2030 is the biggest live sports event Netflix has secured the rights to, but as mentioned above, it isn’t the first sports event the streamer has or will broadcast.

Netflix is also set to be the exclusive home of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the US and Canada in 2027 and 2031, and will continue to broadcast live events from other sports as well, such as the NFL’s Thanksgiving Eve game and both Christmas games. Netflix entered the world of live sports in 2024 with two NFL Christmas Day games, and later started a partnership with WWE, thanks to which it has broadcast events like Monday Night Raw, WWE SmackDown, and WrestleMania.

However, not every big live sports event fits what Netflix considers an “event” and thus what would work best for the streamer. Speaking to CNBC in September 2026, Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria spoke about what an “event” means for Netflix, being “buzzy, cultural, zeitgeist – that really sort of unmissable moment”, yet some of the most popular sports events on TV don’t really qualify for the streamer.

This makes the live sports events broadcast on Netflix even more special, as the team behind the platform is very careful in choosing which events to invest in and which will appeal to wider audiences, and scoring the rights to broadcast all games from the FIFA World Cup 2030, even if it’s just in two countries, is a huge achievement.

Why Live Sports Could Be A Gamechanger For Netflix

Netflix’s immersion into the world of live sports has been gradual but effective, and while its strategy of what’s an “event” and what isn't might be controversial to some, it has paid off so far. Broadcasting all FIFA World Cup 2030 games along with additional content can be a major game-changer for Netflix, fully immersing it in live sports and taking over the one area where TV networks still had an advantage.

Streaming platforms have completely changed how TV is produced and consumed, with traditional networks and cable taking a hit, but live sports were still something that could only be found on traditional TV. In recent years, streaming platforms have started to broadcast different sports, though usually with some limitations, but Netflix scoring a deal with FIFA can be the starting point for more platforms becoming the go-to for live sports.

At the time of writing, it’s unclear if Netflix’s deal with FIFA for the 2030 World Cup could expand to other countries, but for now, even if it’s just in two countries, it’s a huge achievement for both Netflix and streaming platforms, in general.

Sources: Netflix, CNBC.