Netflix NFL Christmas Games Draw Big TV Ratings

The first NFL games on Netflix brought in big audiences for the streamer — and the biggest ever for a streaming NFL matchup. But they came up short of the audience for last year’s Yuletide contests that ran on broadcast networks.

The NBA also enjoyed a fruitful Christmas, with its five-game slate growing by a collective 84 percent from a year ago.

Netflix’s two games averaged 24.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen fast national ratings (Nielsen is providing U.S. data for the games, as the NFL likes audience measurement to be uniform across all of its media partners). The early afternoon matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers posted 24.1 million viewers, and the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Houston Texans came in at 24.3 million (both figures include over-the-air broadcasts in the teams’ local markets). The Netflix audience peaked at 27 million viewers during Beyoncé’s halftime performance at the Ravens-Texans game.

Nielsen and Netflix say 65 million people watched at least a minute of the streamer’s NFL presentation.

“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer. “We’re thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let’s please not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.”

Added Hans Schroeder, executive vp media distribution for the NFL, “We’re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a global audience.” Netflix says it will release its own worldwide data on the NFL games next week, which could give a more like-to-like comparison to its most recent big sporting event, November’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing match.

The two games on Wednesday brought in about 5 million fewer viewers than did last year’s Christmas afternoon games, which drew 29.48 million and 29.02 million viewers on CBS and Fox. (A primetime Monday Night Football game on ABC and ESPN last year delivered 27.61 million viewers.) They are, however, at the higher end of regular-season contests this year, trailing the three Thanksgiving games (which averaged better than 33 million viewers), the season opener on Sept. 5 (29.2 million across all platforms) and several showcase games on CBS and Fox in the late Sunday afternoon window.

The previous high for a streaming-exclusive NFL game was 23 million viewers for Peacock’s wild card playoff telecast in January. Amazon’s Prime Video is averaging 13.34 million viewers for its Thursday Night Football games this season (up 12 percent from a year ago), and Peacock pulled in 14 million viewers for a game in the opening week of the season.

Wednesday’s games were the first in a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to stream games on Christmas.

In the NBA, the Christmas lineup averaged 5.25 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, a big increase from the all-time low of 2.85 million in 2023. ABC simulcast all five games this year, whereas the broadcaster only carried two a year ago due in part to its Monday Night Football obligation.

A primetime matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors led the slate with 7.76 million viewers, nearly six times the average for the comparable broadcast window a year ago. Lakers-Warriors was the most-watched NBA regular season game since 2019.

The other four games all improved on their year-ago numbers as well, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks drawing the second-largest hoops audience of the day at 5.16 million viewers. The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 4.91 million viewers, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics (4.38 million) and Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns (3.84 million). The latter was the biggest tune-in ever for the Christmas NBA nightcap.

With the big jumps in viewership Wednesday, NBA games on ESPN platforms are now running 4 percent ahead of the same time last season, and the league’s national telecasts are off by just 4 percent year to year after running double digits behind earlier in the season.

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