The Pittsburgh Steelers-Kansas Chiefs game, with 24.1 million viewers, was one of the two most-streamed NFL games in United States history. The only game that topped it was the Ravens-Texans game that followed it on Netflix. NFL Media reported the data on Twitter.
The two games were Netflix’s first foray into the NFL and one of their first attempts at airing a live sporting event. Despite their issues streaming the Mike Tyson-Logan Paul fight in November, there weren’t any issues with Netflix’s stream of the two NFL games for the majority of the viewing audience.
Unfortunately for the Steelers and the Texans, the two games were both blowouts, with Pittsburgh losing 29-10 to the Chiefs and the Ravens beating the Texans 31-2 in the late game. There were nearly 65 million US viewers for the two games, and the viewership peaked during Beyonce’s halftime show during the Ravens-Texans game when over 27 million viewers tuned into Netflix.
The high viewership numbers likely mean that the NFL will continue to find a way to air games on Christmas Day even beyond their current contract with Netflix. The deal the NFL signed with Netflix was for $150 million a game and guaranteed them at least one game in 2025 and 2026 beyond the two games this season. If the NFL wants to continue to air multiple games on Christmas, it wouldn’t be a surprise if league gave Netflix more than one game over the next two years.
While Christmas Day is traditionally dominated by the NBA, the NFL has started to air games on Christmas and made a concerted effort to prioritize their Christmas broadcast on Netflix. The games this year were on a Wednesday, which isn’t a traditional day for the NFL to air. It led the team’s playing on Christmas having to play three games in 11 days.
It will be interesting to see what happens going forward given the success of the two NFL games on Christmas Day. With Christmas falling on a Thursday next year, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more than one game air, with Netflix potentially having two or three games next season due to their success airing the games this season. It’s nice that the Steelers were a part of streaming history, but the long-term ramifications are interesting to look at. It would’ve been a lot cooler if the Steelers were able to win or at least look competitive in their loss against the Chiefs.
With both games being blowouts and viewership still being strong, it feels safe to say that we’ll have more than just one NFL game on Christmas Day going forward.
