Netflix has announced a major expansion of its NFL coverage in 2026 and beyond, with additional games, holidays, rivalries, and more starting in Week 1 and continuing through Super Bowl week.
Under the expanded Netflix and the NFL’s four-year deal that runs through the 2029-2030 season, Netflix offer five games, beginning with the first regular season game live from Australia featuring the Los Angeles Rams vs. the San Francisco 49ers. Then it will stream its first Thanksgiving Eve matchup (the Green Bay Packers vs. the Los Angeles Rams), two games on Christmas Day and a game in Week 18 during the 2026-2027 season.
Netflix will also rights to stream the NFL Honors during Super Bowl week in 2027.
The news continues an ongoing shift of games to streaming that has prompted some calls from the Federal Communications Commission, President Trump, Congress and broadcasters to protect consumer free access to games.
Netflix’s NFL games in 2026 will be available in over 200 countries around the world. These games will also be available on local, over-the-air broadcast television in the respective team markets.
In addition to the on-field action, Netflix will also stream the NFL Honors globally, showcasing the league’s annual awards presentation the week of the Super Bowl.
During its 2026 Upfronts presentation, Netflix also announced that starting in 2027, Netflix’s ads plan will expand to 15 new countries, including Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand, giving members more affordable plan options and advertisers more opportunities to reach our audience.
Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s President of Advertising said, “we’ve got cutting-edge technology, we’ve got great entertainment across shows, movies, podcasts, and live events, and we’ve got the most engaged and attentive audience. We’ve proven we’re effective, and now we’re expanding ads to more places and we’re ready to compete with anyone.”
Netflix with ads now reaches more than 250 million global monthly active viewers. These viewers are deeply engaged: over 80% of ads members are actively watching every week.
The presentation Netflix also announced a number of improvements to its ad-technologies.
It is expanding programmatic capabilities to Pause Ads and Live using our Dynamic Ad Insertion technology. Clients can now buy both via their preferred DSP partner, making campaigns even more targeted and personalized. These will be available this summer in the US and Canada, and other countries by the end of this year.
In addition, it is enabling programmatic audience targeting for all ad-supported countries on Amazon DSP by June 1 and Yahoo DSP in the months to follow. And, it is expanding optimization tools for advertisers, including the ability to maximize conversions and outcomes to deliver the best possible results for Netflix buys.
It also stressed that it continues to expand its AI-capabilities for advertisers.
The streamer said it is now offering AI-driven tooling to develop and optimize media plans based on brands’ objectives, and are testing AI agents to manage, optimize, and purchase ads on Netflix.
In addition, it is leveraging AI to adapt existing advertiser assets so they look great in different canvases across the service – like vertical video ads or pause ads.
Last year, Netflix began using AI to marry advertiser ad creative with the shows, films, and worlds that are popular with its subscribers. It recently tested those capabilities with DoorDash, Target, and TurboTax, and have significantly improved the quality and execution. It is now bringing this capability to every ad-supported region by the end of the year.
