Netflix Breaks Streaming Record with Live Football Broadcast

Netflix hasn’t been able to celebrate any success with live broadcasts so far, but that changed with the two NFL games at Christmas: There were new viewership records for streaming broadcasts. The numbers are only slightly behind the previous year’s TV values.

Streaming debut with an audience of millions

Netflix has achieved considerable success with its first broadcast of NFL games on Christmas. The two games each attracted an average of 24 million viewers in the USA – a new record for a streamed NFL game. The duel between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers reached 24.1 million viewers, while the match between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans attracted 24.3 million fans in front of the screens.

Particularly notable was the second game’s halftime show, dubbed the “Beyoncé Bowl.” Pop icon Beyoncé’s performance was the highlight of the day with 27 million viewers – and thus interested more people than the US national sport (or one of them) itself. In total, according to Nielsen data, almost 65 million people in the US watched at least one Part of the NFL broadcasts on Netflix.

How The Hollywood Reporter reported that the viewership numbers for Netflix broadcasts were only slightly behind those of the previous year’s TV broadcasts. In 2023, the Christmas games on traditional television reached an average of around 29 million viewers. Despite the slight decline, the numbers show that streaming platforms are able to compete with traditional TV broadcasts in terms of mass.

Technology has held up

A crucial aspect of the success was the technical stability of the transmissions. Unlike previous live events, such as the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which had problems, the NFL broadcast ran virtually smoothly. Netflix and the NFL have already announced that they will continue their collaboration. In the next two years, the streaming provider will broadcast the NFL’s Christmas games again.