For the third season of Swingwho made his debut on Netflix On Tuesday, the producers underlined the tone that made the show originally a success in 8023.
It is an important year for the program and the genre in a way growing behind the scenes sports documentaries. Do they have power of stay? Can the annual titles based on sport attract and keep a faithful audience, or can the future be dominated by projects with one direction linked to major events and stars?
“This season will be an excellent test of this premise”, ” Swing Executive producer Chad Mumm said in a telephone interview.
After SwingThe linear approach to the second season of the second year, according to the LIV Golf in progress. PGA Tour Heat and build up to an arc of three episodes around the Ryder Cup, this year’s offer is again oriented around a series of individual golfers.
“I think the occasional public could really not worry about the type of pearl of the state of professional golf course,” said Mumm. “They just want to meet interesting characters and take a look at the interior, like a crazy itinerant circus and a sexy pro golf lifestyle. So we really wanted to be intentional to come back. »»
The first episode was the last finished while the team refined “our best advertising,” said Mumm. This year, the beginnings include moments in the shooting of Happy Gilmore 2. Otherwise, the Doc followed has a lot of real drama from 2024 in Spotlight, from Scottie Scheffler $ 100 million– and a shocking arrest – to the reconciliation of Rory McILroy with his wife after a divorce deposit. Mumm also expects viewers to fall in love with Neal Shipley, the low amateur of the 2024 masters who played alongside Tiger Woods on Sunday, just as they did with Joel Dahmen two years ago.
“It can be so easy to fall into the trap of needing to be with the best players or feel that you need to follow the beats of each great victory or loss, but what we are still talking about with our filmmakers, It is that his character, access and authenticity first, “said Netflix vice-president of Sports Gabe Spitzer in an e-mail. “As each season progresses, it becomes even more important to ask: what will surprise viewers? What will make them speak and make them come back?
The “supersaturated” state of sports documents
Six years after the beginnings of Formula 1: Drive to surviveNo show built in a similar way has matched its impact, although many have tried. The surfing and tennis versions each lasted two seasons. A cycling show built around access to the Tour de France will not take place after season three. Even Peyton Manning could not obtain the membership of the player necessary for a second season of Strategist.
“At one point, you worry about public fatigue; There is a newness factor for this amount of access, but I hope, “said Mumm. “We were in a way in this second wave of shows, and we stayed much longer than many others.”
The F1 emission underwent a drop in the hearing in 2024. According to Netflix data, season 6 generated around 87 million hours of viewing in the first half of last year, while season 5 A exceeded 90 million hours in the same previous period.
In addition to the increase in documentary competition, the domination of Max Verstappen – which defeated 13 of the first 16 races in 2023 – contributed to the lack of enthusiasm for Drive to survive: season 6. Season 7, which made its debut on Netflix on March 7, will colline the fourth consecutive series of Verstappen. Swing saw almost a 50% drop in the audience time of season 1 in season 2 in the first half of the year of everyone’s release (at least in part because S2 made its debut three weeks further in the calendar year).
However, the programs seem to succeed in Netflix. According to data from Parrot Analytics, Sports Docs Generated An Estimated $ 260 Million in Subscriber Revenue Globally for the Company in the First Three Quarters of 2024, Based on Viewer Demand for the Content, Led by $ 65 million Worth of Value from the Latest Season of Survive. By way of comparison, ESPN pays $ 90 million a year for F1 rights live in the United States another comparison? Verstappen fired roughly $ 76 million last year in profitOn and off the track.
“Apart from Netflix, the share of the genre offer prevails over the subscribers’ income, suggesting that it has become sugenth,” said Parrot analyst Wade Payon-Denney, in an interview . “It is a crowded field where only a few like Survive And Welcome to Wrexham perceive the dominant current. »»
2025 Netflix Sports Documentaries to watch
Recent version of Netflix Courtyard Followed the male basketball stars at the 2024 Olympic Games, the latest series of special events to draw the attention of evil. America’s sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders is scheduled for a second season in 2025, because Netflix emphasizes the side of sports entertainment. Retrospective narration also plays an essential role for the service, said Spitzer, with titles from which Beckham, Incalculable (which will return with “volume 5” in 2025) and The return: 2004 Boston Red Soxwhich came out just before the World Series 2024.
The first Netflix MLB monitoring show which follows the Red Sox campaign in 2024 arrives on service on April 8. A seasonal documentary still to be appointed to the 2024 Sec season is also scheduled for this summer. The emissions of the NBA and the NHL return respectively to Netflix and Prime Video, respectively, because the format apparently becomes part of the media strategies of each league.
Meanwhile, Netflix graduated to broadcast the real thing: live sports. StrategistGlobal success was the day of Christmas NFL Action. The future rights of the Women’s World Cup were seized after the service published a documentary on the performance of the national American female football team in 2023. Netflix is also in the conversation for F1 rights to the States -Unis from 2026.
“We are still looking for live events – whether in sports, comedy or price discounts – that excite our members and sparkle the global conversation,” said Spitzer. “If the right opportunity arises in the sports area and check these boxes, we will certainly explore it.”
Documentaries have exposed Netflix to the passion of sports fans – and taught the leagues on the grip of service during the younger generations. Now it remains to be seen what role the programming will have in a world where Netflix is a serious live sports player.
Each emission must prove its entertainment engine capacity, worthy of time on an increasingly congested market. Otherwise, an ax awaits. Producers are fighting to maintain their projects alive. Swing has not yet announced a potential fourth season renewal.
Hey, maybe there is full documentation here!
On reflection, there could already be enough to look at.