It was a happy holiday for Netflix—the service set streaming records with its Christmas Day NFL double-header, according to preliminary Nielsen figures. The two games, the first NFL games carried live on Netflix, averaged 24.2 million viewers each, which is a record for streamed NFL games. But that's around 5 million below the audience for last year's Christmas Day games on broadcast networks, per the Hollywood Reporter. A source tells Axios, however, that the NFL expects viewer numbers will top 30 million for each game when additional US data and international figures are included.
The two NFL games—the Baltimore Ravens' 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs' 29-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers—were the second- and third-most-watched live events in Netflix history, behind only last month's Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, the AP reports. Unlike the latter event, the NFL games had no major technical issues, reports the Wall Street Journal. US viewership peaked at more than 27 million viewers during Beyonce's halftime performance in the Ravens-Texans game, Axios reports. This is the first year of a three-year Christmas deal between Netflix and the NFL.
According to Nielsen and Netflix, at least 65 million people watched at least a minute of the games, with viewers in all 190 countries where Netflix is available, per the Reporter. It was also a good day for the NBA, reports the AP. The league and Nielsen say the five Christmas Day games that aired on ABC and ESPN averaged 5.25 million viewers, up 83% from last year. The Los Angeles Lakers' 115-113 victory over the Golden State Warriors was the league's most-watched regular season game in five years. (More NFL stories.)
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