It’s no secret that Netflix has been investing a ton of money in sports. Formula 1’s Drive to Survive. The Untold series. David Beckham’s documentary. And, of course, we can’t forget that the world’s largest streaming company is paying $150 million this year for the exclusive right to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day.

But are these investments worth it? Or is Netflix lighting money on fire?

Well, fortunately for us, Netflix has started releasing engagement data on all its shows. You can read the full report here. But the breakdown includes nearly 7,000 lines of data, so here are a few of my biggest takeaways.

• Comedy x Star = Success: Tom Brady’s roast was *by far* the most popular piece of sports content on Netflix this year. The 3-hour comedy special has recorded 22.6 million views since its release in May. That makes it Netflix’s 26th most popular release, while nothing else in sports could crack the top 100.

  This makes a lot of sense. Several years ago, Netflix started operating on a thesis that stand-up comedy was significantly undervalued. They started shelling out $20 million to comedians like Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle for a single special, releasing over 50+ comedy specials in 2017, 2018, and 2019. That pace has slowed down a little over the last few years, but Netflix feels like the juice is still worth the squeeze, and the audience numbers by adding Tom Brady indicate that as well.

  It’s also important to note that the Tom Brady roast was live, which will eventually help Netflix’s ad-supported tier. So, expect to see more of this in the future (i.e., Netflix teaming up with celebrities for highly produced roasts).

• F1: Drive To Survive Keeps Growing: Netflix’s partnership with Formula 1 on its Drive to Survive series is one of the most mutually beneficial partnerships in sports history. Season six, which covered the 2023 season, garnered 11.6 million viewers, making it the #109 most-viewed TV show on Netflix from January to June and the second most-watched sports show (outside of the Tom Brady roast).

  I’ve heard F1 is looking to re-up its contract with Netflix soon, and the licensing fee is expected to increase alongside the show’s success. Next season’s viewership number should also be bigger than this year’s, as the competitive uncertainty surrounding this season reminds me of the title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in 2021, which served as an inflection point for the sport.

• Full Swing Up; Break Point Down: Netflix made a few big decisions recently, renewing its professional golf docuseries, Full Swing, for a third season while simultaneously canceling its tennis docuseries, Break Point, after season two.

  There was a lot of commentary around why Netflix did this and what tennis’ governing bodies could have done better. However, it came down to the numbers, as Full Swing (4.8 million) had nearly 2x more viewers than Break Point (2.7 million), even though it was released two months later in the reporting period.

  Interestingly enough, Netflix’s Tour de France series nearly beat Break Point with 2.5 million viewers despite only being live for 19 days before the reporting period ended. So, it should be no surprise why that series was renewed for a third season.

• Live Events Are Hit Or Miss: We already discussed the success of Tom Brady’s roast. However, when it comes to live sporting events, the numbers aren’t as compelling for Netflix. For example, Netflix only garnered 1 million viewers for its Netflix Slam, a tennis match in Las Vegas between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal. Netflix also decided not to hold a second Netflix Cup featuring PGA Tour pros and F1 drivers because the first iteration only drew 700,000 viewers.

  These events did well with ticket sales and built upon the IP of Netflix’s shows. But that’s only a small part, especially considering Netflix is canceling Break Point, and it’ll be interesting to see how Netflix’s boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson performs this November, as that’s not tied to a show.

This wasn’t included in the report (because it hasn’t happened yet), but I’ll be closely watching Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games. Netflix paid significantly more money for these games ($150 million) than they would for a sports docuseries, but they should average 20 million-plus viewers each and finish as top 30 shows for Netflix this year.

The amount of money being paid also isn’t much of a concern because 1) $75 million per game is roughly what Netflix would spend on a mid-tier movie, and 2) they will make back a good chunk of this by selling $5 million advertising packages while also reducing the company’s industry-leading 2% churn rate and promoting its ad-supported product, as football games already have advertising spots baked into them.

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