{"id":21340,"date":"2024-12-27T01:15:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T01:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=21340"},"modified":"2024-12-27T01:15:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T01:15:35","slug":"netflix-christmas-day-nfl-games-average-24-million-viewers-in-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=21340","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Christmas Day NFL Games Average 24 Million Viewers in U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

As it turns out, more than just Americans were curious to check out live football games and a Beyonc\u00e9 peformance on Netflix.<\/p>\n

The streamer\u2019s big \u201cNFL Christmas Gameday Live\u201d stunt drew a broadcast network-level audience in the U.S., and it prompted subscribers in more than 200 countries to check out some part of the nearly nine-hour telecast, which started with the Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers followed by Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans. At the halftime of the latter game, Houston-born superstar Beyonc\u00e9\u00a0<\/em>performed a short set of tunes from her \u201cCowboy Carter\u201d album. Viewership of that game peaked at 27 million viewers during her performed, which ran from roughly 6:05 p.m. ET to 6:20 p.m. ET. It was a heavily promoted appearance by Queen Bey designed to draw attention to the fact that the games were on Netflix \u2014 making its debut as a NFL live game partner \u2014 and to bring more casual viewers to the streamer\u2019s big Christmas Day experience. Mariah Carey kicked off the first game with a rendition of her holiday staple, \u201cAll I Want for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix cited Nielsen measurement showing that the Ravens-Texans game averaged 24.3 million viewers while the earlier Chiefs-Steelers bout brought in 24.1 million viewers. Those are more than respectable numbers for Netflix\u2019s first outing and on the high end of what CBS, Fox, NBC or ESPN might garner with a highly anticipated NFL or college football game. Those numbers do not reflect the audience for the entirety of Netflix\u2019s coverage, which began at 11 a.m. ET with a pregame show and ran through the post-game forensics on the Texans\u2019 31-2 pounding by the Ravens. And the reigning champ Chiefs made quick work of the Steelers with a 29-10 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,\u201d said Bela Bajaria, Netflix\u2019s chief content officer. \u201cWe\u2019re thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let\u2019s please not forget the electrifying Beyonc\u00e9 and the brilliant Mariah Carey.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the height of the Chiefs-Steelers game, one-third of Netflix\u2019s global subscribers were watching the telecast, Netflix said. Netflix padded the day with a steady stream of trailers, teases and promotional videos in support of a wide range of upcoming series and movies, from Adam Sandler\u2019s \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d to \u201cSquid Game,\u201d which unleashed its long-awaited Season 2 on Dec. 26.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a global audience,\u201d said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution. \u201cFans in all 50 states and over 200 countries around the world watched some of the league\u2019s brightest stars along with a dazzling performance by Beyonc\u00e9 in a historic day for the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED CONTENT:<\/strong> Beyonc\u00e9 Enlists Blue Ivy, Shaboozey, Post Malone for \u2018Cowboy Carter\u2019 NFL Halftime Show<\/p>\n

\n
\"Netflix
Beyonc\u00e9 performs with her daughter, Blue Ivy, during the halftime show for the Christmas Day Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game carried live on Netflix (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images)<\/em> Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It was a big Christmas Day for sports viewing all around. The NBA, which has long staked out Christmas Day as a prime regular-season game showcase, delivered its most-watched Dec. 25 in five years, the league reported. The five NBA games averaged 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S. across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+. The biggest was the nail-biter that went down to the final second as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers battled Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors (Lakers prevailed 115-113), which grabbed 7.8 million viewers, peaking in the final half-hour with 8.2 million. All told, NBA viewership for the day was up 84% compared to 2023, according to the league.<\/p>\n

Lakers superstar James even made a crack in his post-game interview that Christmas Day game action belongs to the NBA. The NFL has played on Dec. 25 on and off since 1971 but 2024 marks the fourth consecutive year that the league has put a big spotlight on the day. As part of the NFL\u2019s massive 10-year, $100 billion TV contract renewal deal set in March 2021, Netflix will lay out $150 million to carry Christmas Day NFL games for three years. The deal guaranteed the streamer two games in year one and at least one game for 2025 and 2026. The agreement is risky for the NFL given the chance for blowback from passionate football fans who don\u2019t have access to Netflix. That sentiment was prevelant on social media during Wednesday\u2019s daylong telecast. But Netflix made it through eight hours-plus of live game coverage as well as pre-and post-game shows without a major tech meltdown, which in and of itself is a victory for the streamer. The live game coverage was produced for Netflix by CBS Sports while the remaining wrap-around programming was produced by NFL Network. EverWonder Studio, a company backed by Jeff Zucker\u2019s RedBird IMI, executive produced NFL Christmas Gameday.<\/p>\n

Netflix is increasingly leaning into live sports and events as its overall business evolves and as sponsorship deals become a priority for the ad-supported tier. At the same time, Netflix offers the NFL easy, uniform access to high-end TV consumers around the world in one fell swoop. The league has invested significantly in recent years in efforts to make American football more popular in Europe, Latin America and other key territories, with a schedule of regular-season games played in such cities as London, Munich, Frankfurt, S\u00e3o Paulo, Mexico City and Toronto in recent years.<\/p>\n

The global nature of Netflix\u2019s platform and subscriber base makes it hard to compare the audience turnout on Wednesday to other NFL telecasts. Last year, NBCUniversal\u2019s Peacock streamer grabbed about 10 million viewers with its exclusive Dec. 23 telecast of a Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers game, which aired on a Saturday night with less promotion than Netflix showered on its experiment.<\/p>\n

(Pictured top: Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs speak with NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales on Dec. 25 after the Chiefs\u2019 sealed a 29-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix’s Christmas Day telecast of two NFL games drew a broadcast network-level audience of about 24 million U.S. viewers for each game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nNetflix Christmas Day NFL Games Average 24 Million Viewers in U.S. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=21340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Netflix Christmas Day NFL Games Average 24 Million Viewers in U.S. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Netflix's Christmas Day telecast of two NFL games drew a broadcast network-level audience of about 24 million U.S. viewers for each game.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=21340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-27T01:15:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/h2-5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=21340\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=21340\",\"name\":\"Netflix Christmas Day NFL Games Average 24 Million Viewers in U.S. - 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