ESPN changed the game in 2023 when it decided to give over its noon window to The Pat McAfee Show under a licensing deal. It was the first time a traditional cable network would air a live podcast in its usual form with the host maintaining full editorial control.

Since then, the Worldwide Leader has dealt with its fair share of trials and tribulations with McAfee. But the network boasts that PMS is a huge hit online and delivers a younger audience than the noon edition of SportsCenter that used to air then.

The rest of the industry appears to be getting hip to what ESPN saw in McAfee: a funnel for new audiences and a major horse in the podcasting race. In a recent edition of The Town podcast, media reporters Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw discussed why Netflix would be “crazy” not to strike a similar deal in the near future.

Shaw, who covers the entertainment business for Bloomberg, began by arguing that news items on Netflix’s pursuit of YouTubers and podcasters was actually overblown earlier this year.

“There was just a bunch of coverage of like, Netflix is going crazy after podcasters, Netflix is going after YouTubers, doing all this stuff,” he said. “They are having these conversations, but it’s not like it’s a whole new type of programming for them. They’re just saying, ‘Who is the biggest person in some of these categories (that) we can bring in and bolster our programming?’”

Netflix signed the Kill Tony comedy podcast from host Tony Hinchcliffe earlier this year and hired John Mulaney to host a weekly late-night show called Everybody’s Live.

The streamer also has experimented with live comedy specials from Chris Rock and Joe Rogan. Previously, it aired talk shows from comics Michelle Wolff and Hasan Minhaj.

On the children’s side, Netflix co-publishes YouTube content from Coco Melon and Ms. Rachel.

“I’m sure that they will sign a couple of other big YouTubers, but they can’t take all of YouTube and bring it to Netflix,” Shaw added. “They can just pick off a couple of the top people and kind of draft off of it. And most of the people on YouTube they would consider too quote-unquote ‘small’ for Netflix.”

Belloni pushed back that the idea of Netflix signing more YouTubers and podcasters was overblown. Instead, the Puck Hollywood correspondent explained why it is a real story for the rest of 2025.

“I think that we are still going to see some more announcements this year of Netflix getting into business with YouTubers,” Belloni said. “I don’t know if they’re going to announce a full-fledged podcast initiative, but I could see them picking off a couple of the big podcasts and turning them into three-hour daily shows on Netflix where the video runs live in addition to the podcast.”

One issue standing in the way of Netflix pursuing these types of content creators and hosts is that the streamer fancies itself a cut above YouTube. It likely wouldn’t allow creators to post hours of content, spliced haphazardly, the way even the most popular creators on YouTube do.

Still, Belloni specifically cited the McAfee deal with ESPN as a template for what Netflix could look to do in the near term.

“They don’t want to characterize it (as poaching YouTubers) because they want to be seen as ‘premium,’ not just, ‘We’re just going to be the video home of the thing you already get for free,” Belloni added. “So they’re going to put something (extra) behind it. But there’ll be a version of a McAfee on Netflix pretty soon.”

As more users choose podcasts over traditional cable studio shows for news and sports, distributors have to keep up. Right now, most of that content is free on YouTube. But most in the industry assume someone will soon break the dam and go behind the Netflix paywall.

It will signal a real challenge to YouTube in the talk and commentary space, and potentially a new evolution in viewing habits.

“They’d be crazy not to experiment with it,” Shaw said.