Did You Know These Christmas NFL Games Broke Records?

Published: January 1, 2025

Did You Know These Christmas NFL Games Broke Records?

By Movieguide® Contributor

Around 65 million people watched the Kansas City Chiefs top the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens battle the Houston Texans during games on Christmas day.

“The matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers scored an average of 24.1 million viewers, and the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million viewers,” NBC News reported Dec. 26, “making the games the most streamed NFL games in U.S. history, according to Nielsen, the NFL said in a statement Thursday.”

The games streamed on Netflix, and the platform couldn’t be happier with the viewing numbers.

“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,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution.

NBC reported, “Netflix and the NFL have a three-season partnership to broadcast Christmas games, Netflix said.”

Though the games set records, they didn’t beat the biggest sporting event ever streamed. That record was broken last month with the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight. The match had more than 60 million viewers.

Netflix had a few hiccups in the Tyson-Paul fight, which resulted in a frenzy of complaints from subscribers. This time, things ran smoother, and customers were relieved to see their games uninterrupted.

“Last season’s championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers drew 123.4 million viewers. It was shown on CBS, the NFL Network, Univision, Paramount+, NFL+ and ViX, a Spanish-language streaming service,” NBC reported. “CBS said the game was the most-watched telecast in history, beating the 2023 Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, which nabbed 115 million total viewers.”

UPI reported, “Viewership for Christmas Day NBA games also shattered records. At one point, there were 8.32 million people watching the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors face off. More people watched the regular season basketball game than any other in five years.”