“Holiday Hype: Netflix’s NFL Christmas Day Showdown Captivates 24 Million American Viewers!”

It appears that interest in watching live football games and a Beyoncé performance on Netflix extended beyond just Americans.

The streaming service’s significant “NFL Christmas Gameday Live” event attracted an audience comparable to that of broadcast networks within the U.S., leading subscribers in over 200 nations to engage with some portion of the nearly nine-hour broadcast, commencing with the Kansas City Chiefs facing the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Baltimore Ravens against the Houston Texans. During halftime of the latter matchup, Houston-native superstar Beyoncé performed a brief selection of songs from her “Cowboy Carter” album. The viewership for that game peaked at 27 million during her set, which occurred between approximately 6:05 p.m. ET and 6:20 p.m. ET. This well-publicized appearance aimed to highlight Netflix’s debut as an NFL live game partner and attract more casual viewers to the streaming service’s grand Christmas Day offering. Mariah Carey initiated the first game with a performance of her festive classic, “All I Want for Christmas.”

Netflix referenced Nielsen figures indicating that the Ravens-Texans game averaged 24.3 million viewers, while the earlier Chiefs-Steelers matchup drew 24.1 million viewers. These figures represent commendable ratings for Netflix’s inaugural venture and fall within a comparable range to what CBS, Fox, NBC, or ESPN might expect from a highly anticipated NFL or college football event. These statistics do not encompass the total audience for Netflix’s entire coverage, which kicked off at 11 a.m. ET with a pregame show and continued through the post-game analysis of the Texans’ 31-2 loss to the Ravens. Additionally, the reigning champions, the Chiefs, swiftly triumphed over the Steelers with a 29-10 victory.

“Offering our members this record-setting day of two NFL games was the best Christmas present we could have given,” expressed Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer. “We appreciate our collaboration with the NFL, all our fantastic on-air talent, and let’s not overlook the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.”

During the peak of the Chiefs-Steelers game, one-third of Netflix’s global subscribers were tuned into the broadcast, according to Netflix. The streaming platform enhanced the day with a continuous flow of trailers, sneak peeks, and promotional videos for a diverse array of upcoming series and films, ranging from Adam Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore 2” to the much-anticipated Season 2 of “Squid Game,” which premiered on December 26.

“We’re excited about our inaugural Christmas Gameday on Netflix featuring NFL games being streamed to a worldwide audience,” stated Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution. “Fans across all 50 states and in more than 200 countries witnessed some of the league’s brightest stars alongside an enchanting performance by Beyoncé on this historic day for the NFL.”

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It was a significant Christmas Day for sports viewership overall. The NBA, having long established Christmas Day as a key regular-season game showcase, achieved its most-watched December 25 in five years, as reported by the league. The five NBA games averaged 5.25 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+, and ESPN+. The highlight was a tense finish that went down to the wire as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers faced off against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors (Lakers won 115-113), which attracted 7.8 million viewers, peaking in the final half-hour with 8.2 million. Overall, NBA viewership for the day increased by 84% compared to 2023, according to the league.

Lakers superstar James even made a light-hearted comment in his post-game interview that Christmas Day game festivities belong to the NBA. The NFL has sporadically played on December 25 since 1971, but 2024 marks the fourth successive year that the league has prominently showcased games on that day. As part of the NFL’s extensive 10-year, $100 billion TV contract renewal agreement concluded in March 2021, Netflix will invest $150 million to broadcast Christmas Day NFL games over the next three years. The arrangement guarantees the streaming service two games in the first year and at least one game for 2025 and 2026. The agreement carries risk for the NFL due to potential backlash from devoted football fans who lack access to Netflix. That sentiment was notably present on social media throughout Wednesday’s all-day telecast. But Netflix

made it through more than eight hours of live game coverage, along with pre-and post-game segments, without a significant technical failure, which in itself constitutes an achievement for the streamer. The live game coverage was organized for Netflix by CBS Sports, while the additional wrap-around programming was handled by NFL Network. NFL Christmas Gameday was executive produced by EverWonder Studio, a company supported by Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI. 

Netflix is progressively diving deeper into live sports and events as its overall business transforms and as sponsorship agreements gain importance for the ad-supported tier. Simultaneously, Netflix provides the NFL with seamless, uniform access to premium TV viewers globally in a single motion. The league has made considerable investments in recent years to popularize American football in Europe, Latin America, and other essential markets, with a series of regular-season matches conducted in cities like London, Munich, Frankfurt, São Paulo, Mexico City, and Toronto in recent times.

The international character of Netflix’s platform and subscriber community complicates comparisons of the audience turnout on Wednesday with other NFL broadcasts. Last year, NBCUniversal’s Peacock streamer attracted around 10 million viewers with its exclusive telecast of a Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers game on Dec. 23, which aired on a Saturday evening with less promotion than Netflix lavished on its experiment.

(Pictured above: Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs converse with NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales on Dec. 25 after the Chiefs’ secured a 29-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers)