Netflix’s first NFL Christmas Day doubleheader turned out to be a success around the globe.
The Baltimore Ravens’ 31-2 win over the Houston Texans attracted an average of 31.3 million viewers, while the Kansas City Chiefs’ 29-10 victory over Pittsburgh reached 30 million worldwide, according to data Netflix released on Tuesday.
These two games also became the most streamed NFL games in U.S. history.
The Ravens-Texans game now has an updated average of 27.2 million viewers, with the Chiefs-Steelers game getting 25.8 million, according to Nielsen and Netflix.
Both games surpassed the previous record of 23 million viewers set by last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Miami Dolphins and the Chiefs, which aired on Peacock.
Nielsen also reported that 65 million U.S. viewers watched at least one minute of one of the two games, making it Netflix’s most-watched Christmas Day.
Netflix and the NFL said that viewers from 218 countries and territories watched at least one of the games.
This was also a good recovery for Netflix after they experienced widespread streaming issues during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on November 14. The only noticeable technical issue on Christmas Day was that the stream sometimes failed to go to live action, restarting at the beginning when viewers tuned in.
“In terms of the big picture, it went as well as we could have hoped,” said Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction series and sports.
“Given the weight of expectations, especially coming off a fight, I think we acquitted ourselves as well as we could have hoped.
I’m glad that the narrative changed and there was at least an acknowledgment that we didn’t run into any of those issues that plagued us before.”
The Chiefs-Steelers game was in the daily top 10 in 72 countries, with high viewership in Canada, Germany, Ireland, and Britain. The Ravens-Texans game was in the daily top 10 in 62 countries, with high numbers in Australia, Austria, and Mexico.
The viewer numbers include those who watched on Netflix, mobile viewers on NFL+, and those who tuned in on CBS stations in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Houston.
Although the NFL’s Christmas numbers were lower compared to last season, the drop wasn’t as steep as it often is when broadcast games move to streaming.
Last year, three games averaged 28.68 million viewers. The early afternoon game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Chiefs led the way, with an average of 29.48 million on CBS.
This year’s games marked the start of a three-year partnership between Netflix and the NFL for Christmas Day games. Netflix will have at least one game next season, and there’s a possibility of another doubleheader since Christmas falls on a Thursday in 2025.
This would bring three games on Christmas next year, as Amazon Prime Video holds the Thursday night package. The NFL has had three Thanksgiving Day games since 2006, so this wouldn’t be unusual.
“This proves a couple of things. One, that Christmas Day as an event, and then I think with our reach and the production partners that we had in terms of execution (CBS, NFL Network, and EverWonder Studio), we did create something that was both buzzy and with high engagement,” Riegg said.
The success of Christmas Day also gives Netflix momentum going into the new year, as its worldwide partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment will begin on Monday when “Monday Night Raw” moves to the streaming service.
