{"id":89443,"date":"2026-09-06T21:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89443\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T21:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:05:18","slug":"netflix-flags-australia-a-huge-priority-ahead-of-nfl-mcg-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89443\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix flags Australia a \u2018huge priority\u2019 ahead of NFL MCG game"},"content":{"rendered":"

A senior Netflix executive has identified the Australian market as a \u201chuge priority\u201d, before the staging of this week\u2019s landmark NFL match in Melbourne. <\/p>\n

Gabe Spitzer, vice president of global live sports and entertainment at Netflix, said the NFL season opener could lead to further commercial opportunities in Australia<\/a>, where the streaming service dominates the local market with 6.4 million paying subscribers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a few (international events), but the NFL in Melbourne is by far one of the biggest that we\u2019ve tried to pull off,\u201d Mr Spitzer told The Australian. <\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is a huge priority market for us. We\u2019ve been there for many years and done different types of scripted programming out of there. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo to be able to do a live event in Melbourne is incredible and allows us to tap into the culture of sports fandom in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL will launch the opening week of its season with a game between Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground<\/a> on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

The match will begin at 10.30am (AEST), ensuring prime-time viewing in the US where it is expected to command an audience of more than 20m viewers. <\/p>\n

There will be separate streams for the global audience and the Australian audience, allowing advertisers including Domino\u2019s, Visit Victoria and Vocus (owner of Dodo) to target the local market. <\/p>\n

Mr Spitzer said while Netflix has no immediate plans to bid for the rights to dedicated sports broadcasts, its streaming of the Melbourne NFL match is part of its \u201cevents strategy\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are an entertainment platform first and foremost,\u201d Mr Spitzer said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal really is to entertain the world, and we\u2019ve progressed over the past few years with \u2018live functionality\u2019, through live concerts and live sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a natural extension of what we do as a service. But really, for Netflix, it\u2019s an event strategy as much as it is a sport strategy on the live side. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not \u2013 at least right now \u2013 in the volume business for sports. But we\u2019re always open to conversations for the right sports in individual countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just finding that balance as we continue to grow and evolve.\u201d <\/p>\n

Next year, Netflix will stream every match of the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in Brazil, with the company reportedly paying $US200m ($277m) for the rights.<\/p>\n

Netflix has also won the rights to the 2031 tournament.<\/p>\n

The World Cup deal follows investment in one-off boxing matches, WWE, Major League Baseball, and up to five NFL matches per season. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith each one of those, we want to make sure it feels like it can create that global \u2018water cooler conversation\u2019,\u201d Mr Spitzer said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the NFL season kick off outside of the US, that feels like a big event to us and it\u2019s something that we feel like we can put a lot of marketing muscle behind. So we definitely see the value in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix is the dominant streaming platform in Australia with 6.4m subscribers, and has an estimated 325m subscribers across 190 countries worldwide. <\/p>\n

In 2025, Netflix posted $1.47 billion revenue in Australia, most of which was disbursed internationally, meaning the company paid minimal income tax in this country. <\/p>\n

Such accounting practices, which have also been used by tech giants including Google and Meta, have been the subject of fierce political debate in Australia in recent years.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a><\/p>\n

James Madden has worked for The Australian for over 20 years. As a reporter, he covered courts, crime and politics in Sydney and Melbourne. James was previously Sydney chief of staff, deputy national chief of staff and national chief of staff, and was appointed media editor in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A senior Netflix executive has identified the Australian market as a \u201chuge priority\u201d, before the staging of this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[153266,153288,153263,153257,153242,153275,46744,153285,5609,153235,153279,153289,153236,47330,38123,153281,153293,153260,38151,153277,153248,77405,153287,67882,58152,98654,153243,153261,153269,23,21,3708,47488,153234,67215,153255,153286,153230,41989,153247,153228,9715,153229,153241,153252,46055,153262,153246,10207,153292,103868,87972,153280,153233,153276,26092,21170,153268,48707,153274,260,153278,153254,36526,153273,5742,153258,47236,123961,153283,99635,66308,3121,4864,153253,38924,3561,153284,4553,153245,158,6044,153232,78061,137469,153237,153251,43941,153238,153244,36964,39287,36759,49524,153249,153271,153267,153265,153226,41977,57464,49361,153291,78383,153290,153250,153270,38935,153272,70640,153259,153231,153264,153282,42261,36628,69922,153256,37120,39006,38964,153240,3850,153227,153239,129466],"class_list":["post-89443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-water-cooler-conversation","tag-s-landmark-nfl-match","tag-s-world-cup","tag-1-47-billion-revenue","tag-277m","tag-us200m","tag-10-30am","tag-190-countries","tag-5609","tag-6-4-million","tag-6-4m-subscribers","tag-a-huge-priority","tag-a-big-event","tag-a-few","tag-a-game","tag-a-huge-priority-market","tag-a-landmark-nfl-game","tag-a-live-event","tag-a-lot","tag-a-natural-extension","tag-a-senior-netflix-executive","tag-a-service","tag-a-sport-strategy","tag-advertisers","tag-aest","tag-an-audience","tag-an-entertainment-platform","tag-an-estimated-325m-subscribers","tag-an-event-strategy","tag-australia","tag-austrlia","tag-brazil","tag-conversations","tag-dedicated-sports-broadcasts","tag-different-types","tag-dodo","tag-domino","tag-each-one","tag-every-match","tag-far-one","tag-fierce-political-debate","tag-friday","tag-further-commercial-opportunities","tag-gabe-spitzer","tag-global-live-sports-and-entertainment","tag-google-and-meta","tag-individual-countries","tag-international-events","tag-investment","tag-its-events-strategy","tag-its-season","tag-its-sights","tag-its-streaming","tag-live-concerts","tag-live-functionality","tag-live-sports","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-many-years","tag-marketing-muscle","tag-melbourne","tag-minimal-income-tax","tag-more-than-20m-viewers","tag-morning","tag-mr-spitzer","tag-netflix","tag-new-viewers","tag-next-year","tag-no-immediate-plans","tag-one-off-boxing-matches","tag-our-goal","tag-owner","tag-part","tag-play","tag-prime-time-viewing","tag-recent-years","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-scripted-programming","tag-season","tag-separate-streams","tag-sports","tag-subscribers","tag-such-accounting-practices","tag-tech-giants","tag-that-balance","tag-that-global","tag-the-2031-tournament-the-world-cup-deal","tag-the-australian","tag-the-australian-audience","tag-the-australian-market","tag-the-beginning","tag-the-biggest","tag-the-company","tag-the-culture","tag-the-dominant-streaming-platform","tag-the-fifa-women","tag-the-global-audience","tag-the-live-side","tag-the-local-market","tag-the-match","tag-the-mcg","tag-the-melbourne-cricket-ground","tag-the-melbourne-nfl-match","tag-the-nfl","tag-the-nfl-season","tag-the-nfl-season-opener","tag-the-opening-week","tag-the-past-few-years","tag-the-right-sports","tag-the-rights","tag-the-rights-netflix","tag-the-staging","tag-the-streaming-giant","tag-the-streaming-service","tag-the-subject","tag-the-us","tag-the-value","tag-the-volume-business","tag-the-world","tag-this-country","tag-this-week","tag-up-to-five-nfl","tag-vice-president","tag-visit-victoria-and-vocus","tag-whole-nine-yards","tag-wwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}