The NFL did something different this year with its Christmas slate, partnering with Netflix to stream a pair of unusually timed Wednesday games. They announced the results a day later.
Netflix reported an average of 24 million viewers across its games between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers, then the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. Overall, it claimed 65 million viewers tuned in for at least part of the festivities.
The games are the two most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history, though their competition consists of only Amazon’s regular-season “Thursday Night Football” games.
Netflix NFL Christmas Gameday was a record-breaking day, reaching 65 million US viewers according to Nielsen!
With an average of more than 24 million people watching each game, Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans are now the top two most streamed NFL games in US history.… pic.twitter.com/m3CVRv41sq
— Netflix (@netflix) December 26, 2024
For reference, last year’s NFL Christmas games, held on a Monday, drew an average of 29 million viewers across three games on CBS, Fox and ABC.
The NFL also reported some facts from Netflix about its earlier game on Wednesday:
🚨#NFLonNetflix Stats Update🚨
– Over 200 countries tuned in at some point during Chiefs vs. Steelers
– Chiefs vs. Steelers is already the 2nd most popular Live title on Netflix to date
– Nearly 1/3 of Netflix’s Global Concurrents are watching Chiefs vs. Steelers
– Netflix…
— NFL Media (@NFLMedia) December 25, 2024
Both games had to post those numbers with the headwind of a sizable deficit for much of the game. The Chiefs never trailed in a 29-10 win over the Steelers, while the Ravens steamrolled the Texans in every phase of a 31-2 game.
Netflix did try to spur broader interest in the second game with a Beyoncé halftime concert with production values that you usually see in only the Super Bowl halftime show. It’s unclear how high the numbers were when the star hit the stage at Houston’s NRG Stadium.
The NFL is attempting to steal Christmas, and so far succeeding
As expected, the NFL’s numbers are significantly higher than those of the NBA, the previous owner of Christmas on the sports holiday calendar.
The NFL has been attempting a hostile takeover of that ownership since 2020, and the result has been clear wins in the average viewership numbers. Last year’s NBA slate drew only 2.85 million viewers against the NFL’s 29 million.
This year was more successful, with an 84% increase to 5.25 million across five games, the league’s highest number in five years (read: when the NFL started doing this). Still, it’s hard to deny that the NFL is at least in the “presents loaded on the Grinch’s sleigh” phase of stealing Christmas from the NBA.
It’s also notable how much effort the NFL had to go to for a Wednesday Christmas this year, as it had to to have the four teams involve also play on Saturday just to give them four days rest before taking the field again. Still, three games in 11 days is a lot to ask, but the NFL is clearly willing to do whatever it needs to do to turn Christmas into another Thanksgiving, where its games are baked into the typical family schedule.
