Netflix has continued its impressive sports strategy by tripling its Scripted Sports commissions in the first half of 2025. With this increase, Netflix has committed to a three-pronged approach for its Sports content strategy, adding an expansion in Scripted content to its continued focus on acquiring live Sports rights, and an already thriving Unscripted Sports content base.
Ampere’s Commissioning data shows that in H1 2025, Netflix ordered 11 new Scripted Sports titles, a near 200% increase from 4 in H1 2024. This represents the highest volume of Scripted Sports titles ordered by Netflix in a single half-year since Ampere’s tracking began in 2019 and highlights Netflix as the market leader in the Scripted Sports arena, with its commissions amounting to 21% of global Scripted Sports orders in the first half of 2025.
This shift sees Netflix targeting an area of previously untapped potential. Ampere’s Analytics metadata reveals that many of the consistently popular global Sports titles on Netflix are Scripted, despite Netflix’s increase in Drive to Survive style Sports documentaries such as Break Point and Full Swing in recent years. Titles such as Moneyball – a 2011 Movie about Major League Baseball – and All American – a Scripted series about an aspiring NFL player at college – both consistently ranked in the top 5 most popular Sports-related titles in H1 2025, demonstrating a healthy appetite for quality Scripted Sports content among Netflix’s subscribers.
Total Netflix Sports content ordered to series in H1 2025 remained steady, with two fewer orders after a 115% increase between H1 2023 and H1 2024, an indication that Netflix is trying to appeal to a new subscriber base gained from its Sports rights acquisitions in 2024. Ampere’s SVoD Economics data shows that the Paul/Tyson fight and NFL Christmas Day game saw significant levels of subscription activity in the USA – with a 48-hour sign-up peak of nearly 2% and 1% of the subscriber base respectively.
Netflix’s wider, three-pronged sports approach is also clearly linked. Its success in securing exclusive US rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031 has been paired with multiple World Cup-based Scripted commissions, including The ‘99ers and Brazil 70 – The Saga of the Tri. Similarly, the recent success of live boxing matches has seen the orders of Glory and Fight to ‘84, two new Scripted boxing-based commissions. These commissions reflect Netflix’s strategy to reduce churn by offering content that directly targets its new subscriber base of Sports fans that have subscribed for live sporting events, but also have a taste for Scripted sporting content.
However, Netflix doesn’t stand alone in these aspirations – its Sports strategy is part of a wider industry trend of streamers targeting Sports fans. Ampere’s Content Markets data predicts that by 2026, Amazon Prime Video will allocate 20% of its entire spending on acquiring live Sports rights alone. By increasing Scripted content to match its live and Unscripted output, Netflix is taking a more nuanced approach – balancing Sports content between three distinct viewing experiences in order to win the ever-growing battle for the large and loyal Sports-fan consumer base.
