NFL and NBA Games Bring in Big Audiences on Christmas Day
The first NFL games on Netflix brought in a big audience, with the two games averaging 24.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen fast national ratings. The games, which featured the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans, peaked at 27 million viewers during Beyoncé’s halftime performance. A total of 65 million people watched at least a minute of the streamer’s NFL presentation.
The NFL games on Netflix came up short of the audience for last year’s Christmas games on broadcast networks, which drew 29.48 million and 29.02 million viewers on CBS and Fox. However, the games were still at the higher end of regular-season contests this year, trailing only the three Thanksgiving games and the season opener.
The NBA also enjoyed a fruitful Christmas, with its five-game slate growing by a collective 84 percent from a year ago. The games averaged 5.25 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, with the primetime matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors leading the way with 7.76 million viewers. The game was the most-watched NBA regular season game since 2019.
The other four games all improved on their year-ago numbers, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks drawing the second-largest hoops audience of the day at 5.16 million viewers. The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 4.91 million viewers, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics (4.38 million) and Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns (3.84 million).
The big jumps in viewership on Christmas Day have put NBA games on ESPN platforms 4 percent ahead of the same time last season, and the league’s national telecasts are now off by just 4 percent year to year after running double digits behind earlier in the season.