Netflix is adding another major online creator to its streaming catalogue, and this time the focus is food.
Celebrity chef and YouTube creator Nick DiGiovanni has signed a deal that will bring videos from his YouTube channels to Netflix later in 2026. The agreement covers his existing library of cooking content as well as new releases from the “Nick DiGiovanni” and “Nick’s Kitchen” channels.
New episodes will appear on Netflix at the same time they arrive on YouTube.
That detail matters. Netflix is not simply licensing a few older videos or turning DiGiovanni into the host of a traditional cooking series. It is bringing an established YouTube content operation directly onto its platform.
Nick DiGiovanni’s YouTube Library Is Coming to Netflix
Under the agreement, Netflix subscribers will gain access to DiGiovanni’s full back catalogue alongside future cooking videos.
DiGiovanni has built an enormous online audience through fast-moving recipes, ambitious food challenges, collaborations and highly polished short-form videos. He now has more than 60 million followers across his social media platforms, giving Netflix a ready-made audience rather than an untested television personality.
His content also fits easily into streaming viewing habits. Viewers can watch one quick recipe, move through several food challenges or leave a playlist running without committing to a full television season.
It feels closer to YouTube than traditional Netflix programming. That appears to be the point.
New Cooking Videos Will Stream Alongside YouTube
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Netflix Nick DiGiovanni deal is the release strategy.
New content from DiGiovanni’s channels will stream on Netflix on the same day it appears on YouTube. Netflix will therefore operate as an additional distribution platform rather than replacing the creator’s existing channel.
For creators, that could become a useful model. DiGiovanni keeps the audience, momentum and advertising ecosystem he already built on YouTube while gaining exposure to Netflix subscribers who may not actively follow cooking creators online.
Netflix gets something valuable too: a regular supply of content that already has a proven format, production team and loyal fan base.
No lengthy development process. No need to invent a personality from scratch.
Netflix Is Signing More YouTube Creators
DiGiovanni is not an isolated signing.
Netflix has recently expanded its relationships with several creators and YouTube-native entertainment brands. The company announced that “Good Mythical Morning,” “Mythical Kitchen” and “Last Meals” from Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal’s Mythical Entertainment would begin streaming on September 7, 2026.
Those releases will also include archived episodes and new videos arriving alongside their YouTube launches.
Netflix has made similar moves involving Alan Chikin Chow, the Stokes Twins, Ms. Rachel, Mark Rober, The Sidemen and Salish Matter. Some agreements focus on existing video libraries. Others include longer productions developed specifically for the streaming platform.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore.
Netflix wants creator content, but it does not always want to rebuild that content into television.
YouTube Creators Are Becoming Streaming Franchises
For years, streaming companies treated YouTube as a place to promote finished television programmes.
That relationship is beginning to reverse.
Creators now arrive with recognisable formats, built-in distribution, direct audience relationships and years of viewing data. They already know which ideas work. Their viewers have already decided whether the personality is worth watching.
Netflix can step in after much of the risk has disappeared.
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has previously described YouTube as a kind of development ground for creators, particularly because traditional studios can offer larger production budgets and more structured deals.
The language may sound slightly dismissive of YouTube, but Netflix’s recent decisions show how seriously it takes the platform. It is not only watching YouTube talent anymore. It is importing entire creator brands.
The Deal Gives Nick DiGiovanni a Larger Table
DiGiovanni described food as something that brings people together and said the Netflix agreement would make that table much bigger.
That is a polished announcement line, obviously. Still, it captures the practical opportunity behind the deal.
YouTube remains his core platform. Netflix gives him another doorway into homes, televisions and audiences that might never search for his channel directly.
The move also places him beside established Netflix food personalities and cooking programmes without forcing him to abandon the style that made his content popular.
That balance could be important. Creator audiences tend to notice when online personalities suddenly feel overproduced or disconnected from their original work.
Netflix appears to be avoiding that problem by carrying the YouTube content itself.
What the Netflix Nick DiGiovanni Deal Means for Creators
The bigger story is not simply that a celebrity chef landed a streaming agreement.
It is that creator archives are becoming valuable entertainment libraries.
A channel with hundreds of successful videos can now function almost like a television catalogue. Add regular new releases, an active community and a recognisable face, and the creator starts to resemble a small media company.
For established influencers, that opens another route beyond sponsorships, merchandise and platform advertising. Streaming distribution can extend the life of older videos while introducing the creator to audiences outside the usual social media feed.
Netflix, meanwhile, gains content people already understand.
Sometimes viewers do not want another expensive prestige drama. They want someone making an enormous sandwich, testing a strange cooking method or attempting a recipe that probably should not work.
Nick DiGiovanni already knows how to make that watchable.
Netflix is simply giving it another screen.
Sources
- Net Influencer – Netflix Signs Celebrity Chef Nick DiGiovanni to Bring YouTube Content to Streaming Platform
- Deadline – Netflix Strikes Video Deal With YouTube Chef Nick DiGiovanni
