Netflix touts its highest NFL streaming ratings ever, peaking with Beyoncé’s halftime show

CNN
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The NFL’s Netflix debut was a success — at least as far as streaming is concerned. But even when Beyoncé performed at halftime, the games’ ratings were roughly on par with last year’s Christmas viewership on broadcast and cable television.

The late Ravens-Texans game averaged 24.3 million viewers in the United States and the early Chiefs-Steelers game averaged 24.1 million, according to Nielsen. The games were the most streamed games in NFL history, the ratings company said.

Nielsen reported that Ravens-Texans viewership peaked at over 27 million viewers at the halftime show, known as the Beyoncé Bowl.

“Giving our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best holiday gift we could have given,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement.

This may have been a stellar debut for football on Netflix, but the numbers weren’t great for the NFL. Last year’s Christmas games, all broadcast on traditional television and cable networks, all outperformed this year’s offerings. The Raiders vs. Chiefs on CBS reached 29.2 million viewers. The Eagles vs. Giants on Fox drew 29 million viewers and the 49ers vs. Ravens on ESPN averaged 27.1 million viewers, Nielsen reported.

This year’s Christmas games were the first of a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix, which paid $150 million to run the games through 2026.

“We are excited about our first Christmas Game Day on Netflix, streaming NFL games to a global audience,” Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media sales, said in a statement.

Ratings may have been affected by the underwhelming results. The Ravens defeated Texas 31-2 and the Chiefs outscored the Steelers 29-10.

The NFL experimented with streaming its playoff game on Peacock last year, and ratings were surprisingly high despite much fan confusion and concern leading up to the game. At the time, the Chiefs-Dolphins game on Peacock on Jan. 15 was the most streamed live event in history.

Since then it has been eclipsed – by a lot. Last month, Netflix streamed a fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which the company said was the most-streamed global sporting event of all time, with an average of 108 million live viewers worldwide. According to Netflix, this battle peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, with 38 million concurrent streams in the US.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated which game was streamed first. The Chiefs’ game against the Steelers was the early game on Wednesday.