The primary NFL games on Netflix brought in big audiences for the streamer — and the most important ever for a streaming NFL matchup. But they got here up in need of the audience for last yr’s Yuletide contests that ran on broadcast networks.
The NBA also enjoyed a fruitful Christmas, with its five-game slate growing by a collective 84 percent from a yr ago.
Netflix’s two games averaged 24.2 million viewers, in accordance with Nielsen fast national rankings (Nielsen is providing U.S. data for the games, because the NFL likes audience measurement to be uniform across all of its media partners). The early afternoon matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers posted 24.1 million viewers, and the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Houston Texans got here in at 24.3 million (each figures include over-the-air broadcasts within the teams’ local markets). The Netflix audience peaked at 27 million viewers during Beyoncé’s halftime performance on the Ravens-Texans game.
Nielsen and Netflix say 65 million people watched a minimum of a minute of the streamer’s NFL presentation.
“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the most effective Christmas gift we could have delivered,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer. “We’re thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let’s please not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the sensible Mariah Carey.”
Added Hans Schroeder, executive vp media distribution for the NFL, “We’re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a world audience.” Netflix says it is going to release its own worldwide data on the NFL games next week, which could give a more like-to-like comparison to its most up-to-date big sporting event, November’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing match.
The 2 games on Wednesday brought in about 5 million fewer viewers than did last yr’s Christmas afternoon games, which drew 29.48 million and 29.02 million viewers on CBS and Fox. (A primetime Monday Night Football game on ABC and ESPN last yr delivered 27.61 million viewers.) They’re, nevertheless, at the upper end of regular-season contests this yr, trailing the three Thanksgiving games (which averaged higher than 33 million viewers), the season opener on Sept. 5 (29.2 million across all platforms) and a number of other showcase games on CBS and Fox within the late Sunday afternoon window.
The previous high for a streaming-exclusive NFL game was 23 million viewers for Peacock’s wild card playoff telecast in January. Amazon’s Prime Video is averaging 13.34 million viewers for its Thursday Night Football games this season (up 12 percent from a yr ago), and Peacock pulled in 14 million viewers for a game within the opening week of the season.
Wednesday’s games were the primary in a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to stream games on Christmas.
Within the NBA, the Christmas lineup averaged 5.25 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, an enormous increase from the all-time low of two.85 million in 2023. ABC simulcast all five games this yr, whereas the broadcaster only carried two a yr ago due partially to its Monday Night Football obligation.
A primetime matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors led the slate with 7.76 million viewers, nearly six times the typical for the comparable broadcast window a yr ago. Lakers-Warriors was the most-watched NBA regular season game since 2019.
The opposite 4 games all improved on their year-ago numbers as well, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks drawing the second-largest hoops audience of the day at 5.16 million viewers. The Latest York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 4.91 million viewers, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics (4.38 million) and Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns (3.84 million). The latter was the most important tune-in ever for the Christmas NBA nightcap.
With the large jumps in viewership Wednesday, NBA games on ESPN platforms are actually running 4 percent ahead of the identical time last season, and the league’s national telecasts are off by just 4 percent yr to yr after running double digits behind earlier within the season.
