Netflix made history with its first-ever NFL game broadcasts on Christmas Day, drawing massive audiences while setting new streaming records for football viewership.
The streaming giant's doubleheader averaged 24.2 million U.S. viewers across both games, according to Nielsen ratings. The Kansas City Chiefs versus Pittsburgh Steelers matchup attracted 24.1 million viewers, while the Baltimore Ravens' victory over the Houston Texans pulled in 24.3 million viewers.
The viewership peaked at 27 million during Beyoncé's halftime performance at the Ravens-Texans game, highlighting the entertainment value Netflix brought to the sports broadcast. Nielsen and Netflix reported that 65 million people watched at least one minute of the NFL presentation.
While impressive for streaming, these numbers fell short of 2022's Christmas Day games on traditional broadcast networks CBS and Fox, which averaged around 29 million viewers each. However, the Netflix broadcasts still ranked among the most-watched regular-season NFL games this year, only trailing the Thanksgiving games and season opener.
The games marked the beginning of a three-year partnership between Netflix and the NFL to stream Christmas Day games. Netflix's Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria celebrated the "record-breaking day," while NFL Executive VP Hans Schroeder praised the achievement of streaming NFL games to a global audience.
Netflix plans to release worldwide viewing data next week, which will provide broader context for the streaming event's success. The numbers will be compared to the platform's previous major sporting event, November's Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing match.
The streaming milestone surpassed previous records held by other platforms, including Peacock's wild card playoff telecast that drew 23 million viewers in January, and Amazon Prime Video's Thursday Night Football games, which average 13.34 million viewers this season.