Silly question, but is a World Cup a series or a film? Netflix has won exclusive rights to the 2030 World Cup in Spain and Andorra, and will show all 104 matches live on its platform. It is the first time Netflix has landed a major men’s football tournament. I opened my notebook at the “Netflix” tab, which I had created for something else entirely.
104 matches. If an episode is ninety minutes plus half-time… I started the sum on the 7:32 train and reached the newsroom before I had finished. That’s without stoppage time, which nobody can work out in advance. I checked, and actually nobody knows.
Netflix plans pre-match, half-time and post-match shows “offering a Spanish perspective”, plus a recap show on every match day. So the “previously on the World Cup” really exists. Basketball doesn’t have that, I looked.
What worries me is the screen that asks if you’re still watching. On my laptop, in my kot (student digs), it turns up after three episodes. Will it ask in extra time too? And if you don’t click, does the match carry on without us? I put the question to Marcel.
In my day, television didn’t ask questions. You watched it, and that was already a lot.
I also learned that one match per matchday will be free in Spain, and that a free national channel will show a package of matches: all of Spain’s games, both semi-finals and the final. The details of the partnership will be announced closer to the tournament. So the final will be on Netflix and on a channel at the same time. I’m told it’s always been like this in football, fine, but what does that mean?
Bela Bajaria, at Netflix, said: “Few events bring people together like the World Cup”. I noted it down, with a sub-tab: “Together, yes, but on which profile?”
Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
