Netflix
- Netflix does not offer live sport to subscribers
- NTC requires no dedicated equipment
Netflix is adding fitness content from Nike Training Club (NTC) to its streaming platform as it continues to explore how to use sport as an acquisition and retention tool without purchasing live rights.
The videos are included in all subscription tiers, with users able to access more than 90 NTC workouts featuring Nike’s trainers. The workouts promise to cater to all levels of fitness and do not require specialist equipment.
Each training programme comprises multiple episodes and lasts for 30 hours. The first tranche of videos is available now and new workouts will be added throughout 2023 in up to ten different languages.
Netflix is a notable outlier in the streaming space in that it does not use live sport as an acquisition tool, believing rights to be too expensive, short-lived and fragmented when compared to entertainment content it can offer at a global scale in perpetuity.
However, it has not shied away from longer tail sporting content, including documentaries, reality shows and films. The Formula One docuseries Drive to Survive and 2020’s The Last Dance have been notable successes.
Falling subscriber numbers and a lack of new markets to expand into have led to speculation that Netflix could reconsider its approach and invest in premium sports rights. However, the company attempted to pour cold water on reports last year by stating it had no such intention.
SportsPro says…
This partnership makes a lot of sense for both parties.
NTC used to be a premium offering before Nike made all of the content free during the pandemic. It has since distributed videos via its own channels but Netflix gives it unprecedented reach and access to hundreds of millions of subscribers who can potentially be turned into customers.
For Netflix, it has an entirely new vertical. Bundling fitness content with films and TV series is going to attract an entirely different audience to dedicated platforms like Apple Fitness+ or Peloton – especially since minimal or no content is required.
It differentiates Netflix from the competition and has the potential to be fleshed out into a wider casual fitness offering.
