Netflix hosted two NFL games on Christmas Day for the first time, with “NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix” reportedly costing the company $150 million.
In May, the streaming giant signed a three-year contract with the NFL to lock in exclusive rights to carry Christmas Day games. According to Netflix, everything kicked off smoothly, with the company reporting that before the Ravens-Texans kicked off, it “eclipsed its peak concurrent viewers of any Christmas in the past four years.”
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports, and more,” says Netflix Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has called the relationship “mutually positive”. Hans Schroeder, NFL EVP of media distributio said, “The NFL on Christmas has become a tradition and to partner with Netflix, a service whose biggest day of the year is typically this holiday, is the perfect combination to grow this event globally for NFL fans.”
Netflix’s 282.3 million global subscribers were able to stream the games, with audience numbers, to be released later in the week, tipped to have been around 35 million.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
