The first NFL games on Netflix attracted huge audiences, reaching the highest number of viewers ever for an NFL streaming game. However, they failed to match last year’s Christmas contests broadcast on traditional TV channels.
The NBA also had a successful Christmas, with a five-game schedule that saw viewership increase 84% over the previous year.
The two games on Netflix averaged 24.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen quick metrics (Nielsen provides U.S. data for the games, while the NFL prefers a standardized audience measurement across its media partners) . The afternoon matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers had 24.1 million viewers, while the Baltimore Ravens’ victory over the Houston Texans reached 24.3 million (these figures include broadcasts on local team markets). The audience reached a peak of 27 million during Beyoncé’s halftime performance in the Ravens-Texans game.
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Nielsen and Netflix reported that 65 million people watched at least one minute of the NFL presentation on the streaming service.
“Bringing our members this record-breaking day with two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have given them,” said Bela Bajaria, chief content officer at Netflix. “We are grateful for our partnership with the NFL, for all of our amazing on-air talent, and let’s not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey. »
Hans Schroeder, NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution, added: “We are excited about our first Christmas Game Day on Netflix, with NFL games reaching a global audience. » Netflix said it will release its own global data on NFL games next week, which could provide a more comparable overview to its recent major sporting event, the boxing fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson in November.
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Wednesday’s two games drew about 5 million fewer viewers than last year’s Christmas games, which drew 29.48 million and 29.02 million viewers on CBS and Fox respectively. (A prime-time Monday Night Football game on ABC and ESPN last year drew 27.61 million viewers). Nonetheless, they rank among the most-watched regular season games this year, just behind the three Thanksgiving games (which averaged more than 33 million viewers), the season opener on September 5 (29.2 million across all platforms), and several highlight games on CBS and Fox during the Sunday afternoon window.
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The previous record for an exclusive NFL game streaming was 23 million viewers for Peacock’s Wild Card playoff broadcast in January. Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football games averaged 13.34 million viewers this season (up 12% from last year), and Peacock drew 14 million viewers for one game during the first week of the season.
Wednesday’s games were the first under a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to stream games on Christmas.
In the NBA, Christmas programming averaged 5.25 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, a significant increase from the all-time low of 2.85 million in 2023. ABC aired all five games simultaneously this year, while the broadcaster only aired two last year due to its commitments to Monday Night Football.
A primetime matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors dominated the ratings with 7.76 million viewers, nearly six times the average for the comparable broadcast window a year ago. The Lakers-Warriors game was the most-watched regular season game since 2019.
The other four games also surpassed last year’s numbers, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks drawing the second-highest basketball audience of the day with 5.16 million viewers. The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 4.91 million viewers, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics (4.38 million) and the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns (3.84 million). The latter marked the highest viewership ever for the NBA Christmas Showcase.
With Wednesday’s significant viewership increases, NBA games on ESPN platforms are now up 4% from the same period last season, and the league’s national broadcasts are down only 4%. % year-over-year after experiencing double-digit declines earlier in the season.
