Netflix will have one of its biggest days Wednesday since the site launched in 1998 when it airs two NFL games for the first time.
“NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix” begins with a two-hour pregame show at 11 a.m., before Pittsburgh hosts Kansas City. Baltimore faces Houston in the second game.
The streaming giant agreed to a three-year contract in May to carry Christmas Day games.
Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in over 190 countries will be able to stream the games, marking the first time one outlet has distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix will have the games available in five languages – English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.
Getty Images
The games will also air on CBS affiliates in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Houston. NFL policy dictates that games on cable or being exclusively streamed must also be on an over-the-air station in the competing teams’ markets. It will also be available on mobile devices in the U.S. for those who have NFL+.
The biggest reason is money. The league is getting $150 million from Netflix for the two games this season. It also continues the NFL’s moves into streaming – Thursday night games are in their third season on Amazon Prime Video and the “Sunday Ticket” package moved to YouTube TV last year.
And the league wasn’t about to give up Christmas after seeing the ratings. Last year’s three games averaged 28.68 million viewers. The early afternoon contest between the Las Vegas Raiders and Chiefs led the way, averaging 29.48 million.
This time, the Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens and Texans played on Saturday, giving them the same turnaround they would have if they played on Sunday and then Thursday.
All four have clinched playoff spots in the AFC, but seeding remains up for grabs.
Kansas City (14-1) can clinch the top seed – which would mean a first-round bye and home field throughout the playoffs – with a win over the Steelers. Pittsburgh and Baltimore are tied atop the AFC North at 10-5, with the Steelers holding the tiebreaker due to a better conference record.
Houston (9-6) has wrapped up the AFC South and holds the fourth seed.
Netflix hopes so. Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction series and sports, said the system was stress-tested, and then some, during the Nov. 14 bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, along with internet service providers who reported they were also overwhelmed by the surge that occurred before and during the fight.
It peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million concurrent streams in the United States. According to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to and during the fight.
Possible? Yes. Likely? No.
The largest audience for a streamed-exclusive NFL game was 23 million on Peacock for last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Miami Dolphins and Chiefs.
Nielsen will measure the ratings for the Christmas Day games, with early numbers expected late afternoon on Thursday.
Mariah Carey will kick off the day with a taped performance of “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
There’s been no word on whether Taylor Swift will make the trip to Pittsburgh to watch her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift has been spending time in Kansas City since she wrapped up her record-setting Eras Tour two weeks ago.
The NFL will have at least two games on Dec. 25 in 2025 and ’26, with Netflix slated to have at least one each year. Amazon Prime Video will have a night game with Christmas falling on a Thursday next year.
Netflix’s worldwide partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment will begin on Jan. 6 when “Monday Night Raw” moves to the streaming service.
On Friday, Netflix secured the U.S. rights for the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
