This Christmas, NFL fans looking to watch the Ravens play the Texans or the Chiefs play the Steelers — or both — tuned in to Netflix for their games of choice. Precisely what an NFL game on Netflix might look like was a source of much discussion in the months before the game. Now that they’ve aired, it seems safe to say that this experiment was a success.
According to the streaming service’s data, each of the two games exceeded an average minute attendance of 24 million viewers. The two are now, as per Nielsen’s data, the most-streamed NFL games in history. Looking a little deeper at the data turns up a few surprising — and, potentially, not so surprising — conclusions. Beyoncé’s halftime show during the Ravens-Texans game saw the highest viewership of the day, with 27 million viewers reportedly turning in.
Netflix also cited Nielsen data to the effect that “nearly 65M U.S. viewers” watched the two games combined. That’s an impressive statistic, with each of the games putting up comparable numbers to some of the most-watched NFL games on broadcast television this year. It wasn’t Netflix’s most-streamed sporting event this year, though; that honor goes to Jake Paul’s boxing match against Mike Tyson, which had — according to The Verge — 65 million streams on Netflix.
Netflix’s NFL Ambitions Could Go Beyond Games
The streaming service’s co-CEO recently offered some hintsThe Christmas Day games marked the first installment of a three-year deal between Netflix and the NFL for holiday viewing. They aren’t the only high-profile sporting events coming to the streaming service in the near future, though. Earlier this month, Netflix also announced that it would broadcast the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups. Netflix hasn’t been a historic destination for sports, but that seems likely to change.
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