Netflix’s live football slate adds a legacy act
Netflix said Tuesday that U2 will headline the halftime show for its new Thanksgiving Eve NFL game, a Nov. 25 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
It will be U2’s first NFL halftime appearance since the 2002 Super Bowl, a show staged a few months after the September 11 attacks and remembered for its tribute to the victims. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos framed the booking in terms of scale: “they don’t just perform, they deliver iconic moments audiences remember forever.”
Why the slot matters
Netflix has leaned on halftime music since acquiring NFL Christmas Day games a couple of years ago. Last year’s holiday game had Snoop Dogg hosting a “Holiday Halftime Party” alongside Lainey Wilson, Andrea and Matteo Bocelli, and HUNTR/X. The Thanksgiving Eve game extends that formula into a new prime-time window.
For media planners and streaming executives, the move is less about rock and roll than about reach. Live NFL windows create the simultaneous, must-watch audience that on-demand libraries rarely deliver, and a broad-appeal legacy act can pull in older viewers who are otherwise light streamers. That combination gives Netflix a stronger pitch for its ad-supported tier, where live events are a scarce and valuable product.
- The game: Packers at Rams, SoFi Stadium, Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.
- The headliner: U2, returning to an NFL halftime for the first time since 2002.
- The play: Pair live sports with broad music acts to build appointment viewing and ad inventory.
Netflix’s live event strategy has a simple logic for the screen business. In a subscription market where retention is the hard metric, appointment events give viewers a reason to open the app at a specific time and advertisers a reason to pay a premium. A legacy act with decades of stadium touring also brings multi-generational reach that pure sports programming can miss.
The halftime stage is heating up
Puck reports Jay-Z has booked himself for next year’s Super Bowl halftime, also at SoFi, with Roc Nation continuing to produce the show for the NFL. That parallel booking suggests the halftime slot is becoming a higher-stakes intersection of music, sports and streaming reach.
Watch whether the Thanksgiving Eve game becomes an annual franchise. If it delivers, Netflix can use a high-profile halftime act as a recurring lever for advertisers and subscribers, much as it has done with Christmas Day games.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
