Netflix’s live sports strategy is predicated on finding games and tournaments it believes can be turned into events. That makes defining “event” paramount to the company’s success.
“The thing about an event is it’s fuzzy, cultural, zeitgeist – that really sort of unmissable moment,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria in an exclusive interview last week with CNBC Sport. “There’s something in that that just feels like it’s very appointment TV, but also with great conversation around it.”
Bajaria spoke from Melbourne, Australia, the site of the first-ever, regular-season NFL game in the country. Netflix owned the global rights to the game, which resulted in a 27-7 victory by the San Francisco 49ers over the Los Angeles Rams.
CNBC asked Bajaria if NBC’s “Sunday Night Football, ” the most popular primetime program for 15 consecutive years, would classify as a Netflix “event.”
“If I had a dollar for every time I’m asked that,…
