Sports streaming culture is forever shifting, and Netflix and Paramount are the driving forces leading this movement. While UFC allied with Paramount for a $7.7 billion deal, Netflix was eyeing it long before. That extended the companies’ rivalry over Warner Bros. Now, in an overcrowded media space, Netflix has shifted its strategy, instead of trying to fight for people’s attention.

In a recent episode of the Varsity Podcast, Netflix VP Gabe Spitzer lifted the veil on its live sports strategy. Rather than focusing on volume, Netflix wants to hold the narrative authority with experiences and events that define conversations. That move begins with myth-making docuseries on legends like Mike Tyson, Hulk Hogan, and Deion Sanders.

Mike Tyson documentary in works, Netflix VP reveals

The sports media landscape is crowded with hundreds, if not thousands, of ‘camera follows athlete’ content. In such an environment, to maintain a distinct identity, Netflix has to be picky with its projects. Revealing its strategy, Spitzer told Varsity Sports, “For us, it’s really about access and authenticity. How can we surprise viewers? How are we letting them in, in ways that they can’t just get on social media or other places?”

Spitzer continued, “I do think we’ve reached a tipping point in the follow-doc genre, where maybe there are too many of them right now, so we have to be a bit pickier in terms of the ones we’re doing. … There are more incredible docs coming: We have Hulk Hogan; we have Mike Tyson; we have Deion Sanders; so there’s plenty of good ones that are still out there.”

Top Stories

“Rest in Peace”: Condolences Pour In as Legendary Coach Freddie Roach Mourns Personal Loss

“RIP”: Mike Tyson’s Son, Jake Paul, and Others Send Prayers as Anthony Joshua-Linked Car Crash Kills Two

Is Anthony Joshua Injured? Nigerian Officials Break Silence on Boxer’s Health and Reason Behind Accident

Fact Check: Is Anthony Joshua Being Flown to the UK by Private Jet for Car Crash Treatment?

Anthony Joshua Injured in Fatal Car Crash; Two Dead

As Spitzer revealed, the pattern-interrupt for Netflix is looking for lackluster or misrepresented stories in the media, and turning them into culture-redefining, exclusive behind-the-scenes documentaries. Who better to test the idea than boxing icon Mike Tyson? With his star power, controversial backstories, and redemption, Tyson becomes the perfect figure to propel Netflix to wider borders of the world.

Similarly, Hulk Hogan, who left behind a legacy of wrestling, became the perfect story to tap into. According to Spitzer, the streaming company recorded hours of footage before Hogan passed earlier this year. “Hulk Hogan, we had been filming with Hogan for 20 hours around the time of when he passed. We think that can be a good one.”

Moreover, What’s on Netflix reveals the runtime of the Tyson docuseries to be 60 minutes, with 3 individual episodes, focusing on his life and career, to be released in 2025 or early 2026. Furthermore, Netflix confirmed a Deion Sanders follow-doc, ‘PRIME TIME’ with three 60-minute episodes, slated to release in 2026, marking its collaboration with the NFL.

Netflix is not new to this game either. They have done significant projects in the past with documentaries on big-name combat sports athletes. Perhaps the biggest name in recent times was Conor McGregor in McGregor Forever.

Apparently, Netflix is expanding its arena with documentaries to leave you slack-jawed, while Paramount continues its bidding wars against the streaming company.

Paramount snatched UFC broadcast deal from Netflix

Selling US rights to the Skydance-owned Paramount had its own complications and rival bidders before UFC signed with them. TKO Group President and COO Mark Shapiro shared, “Selling media rights on UFC globally was in our best interest.” In another surprising statement, Shapiro revealed that Netflix was in the mix, too.

“Frankly, we thought [IMG] would do better than Netflix,” Shapiro added at the Goldman Sachs telecom conference in San Francisco. “We set our sights on talking with everybody else, from Warner Bros Discovery, to a lesser extent Apple, Amazon in a big way, YouTube in a big way, Netflix in a big way, DAZN in a big way.”

However, as history has it, the deal ultimately went to Paramount with 13 numbered UFC marquee events and 30 Fight Nights’ streaming rights awarded to the enterprise per year for seven years. Netflix pushed back, too, with the Zuffa debut event headlining fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Terence Crawford streaming on their platform, an event that Paramount tried to make its move on.

Beyond sports, the companies’ rivalries are sizzling hot, with Netflix and Paramount both pouncing for a share of the Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix has bid $82.7 billion, while Paramount has taken it up a notch, at $108 billion. Clearly, the rivalry is only heating up, and Netflix’s follow-docs are a small step towards commanding media authority over Paramount.