Record-Breaking Viewing Audience Watched NFL Christmas Doubleheader On Netflix

A total of 65 million viewers watched the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans/Kansas City Chiefs-Pittsburgh Steelers doubleheader on Netflix on Christmas.

Netflix is having an amazing year as another new live programming spot has broken streaming records.

According to NFL.com, the Nielson ratings for the doubleheader football games that took place on Christmas (Baltimore Ravens Versus Houston Texans, and the Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers) were seen by 65 million viewers during both games. The second game, Ravens versus Texans had a 24.3 million average minute audience, while the first game, Chiefs versus Steelers had a slightly lower 24.1 million average minute audience making them the most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history.

The second game featured homegrown Texas native, Beyonce, which brought in over 27 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

“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 in a written statement. “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.”

Another record was broken during the second game. The Ravens-Texans contest was the most-watched Christmas Day game on record seen by viewers between 18 and 34 years old with 5.1 million U.S. viewers (based on Nielsen records dating back to 2001).

“We’re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a global audience,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution. “Fans in all 50 states and over 200 countries around the world watched some of the league’s brightest stars along with a dazzling performance by Beyoncé in a historic day for the NFL.”

The game was also a hit on social media. With the hashtag, #BeyonceBowl, it rose to be the #1 worldwide trend on X, formerly known as Twitter as soon as she hit the stage. The hashtag replaced the hashtag, #Christmas itself. Even after Beyonce’s performance, Netflix had 10 of the top 12 trending topics on X in the US. #NFLonNetflix also trended around the world, reaching a peak of #2 in Australia, #3 in the UK and Germany, #5 in Brazil and France, and #6 in the US.

This game was the first in a three-season partnership that the NFL has with Netflix to broadcast NFL games on Christmas Day.