Netflix expands into podcasts, vertical video, and live sports

Netflix’s ad-supported plan reached more than 94 million global monthly active users, and the company said its ads now reach more than 190 million monthly active viewers worldwide. At the same time, Netflix said video podcasts had arrived in 2026, vertical videos were available on mobile, and new ad inventory across both formats would open globally in 2027, a clear sign that the streamer is widening beyond on-demand television into a broader attention machine.

The push comes after a year in which Netflix crossed 325 million paid memberships in the fourth quarter of 2025 and said ad revenue rose more than 2.5 times to more than $1.5 billion for the year. Those numbers show why the company is reaching for new formats. A subscription business can still be huge, but the economics of streaming now reward scale, ad load, and more hours spent inside the app. Netflix’s $45.2 billion in revenue for 2025, up 16 percent year over year, gave it room to experiment; the question is whether each new lane strengthens the brand or pulls it farther from the focused TV experience that made it dominant.

Live sports have become the clearest proof of concept. Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games on December 25, 2024 drew nearly 65 million U.S. viewers overall, and the two games were the most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history at the time, with an average audience of more than 24 million viewers each. The company then topped itself on December 25, 2025, when the Lions-Vikings game became the most-streamed NFL game in U.S. history with 27.5 million U.S. viewers. That kind of live appointment viewing gives Netflix a second identity, one that looks less like a library and more like a destination for communal moments.

Netflix has been building that case in smaller ways too. It staged Tudum 2025: The Live Event at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on May 31, 2025 as a live-streamed showcase of its biggest franchises, and by 2024 it said more than 100 games were available on Netflix Games. In early 2025, Squid Game: Unleashed was on pace to become its most downloaded game ever. Put together, podcasts, vertical video, live sports, games, and franchise events suggest a company trying to own more of the day, not just more of the night.