On Saturday night, NBCUniversal and the NFL executed a reported $110 million deal by streaming a playoff game on Peacock. The prime-time AFC Wild Card round matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs made sports media history, garnering an average minute audience (AMA) of 23.0 million viewers on the streaming service, NFL+ and local NBC affiliates in the home marketplaces of the two teams.
The metrics, according to Nielsen Media Research fast-national data, rendered the contest the most-streamed live event in the history of the United States. NBC Sports announced these numbers during halftime of its Sunday Night Football game.
The company also revealed that the contest reached 27.6 million total viewers and peaked at an average of 24.6 million viewers during the second quarter from 9:15 to 9:30 p.m. EST. Data from Nielsen Media Research includes out-of-home viewership, which was integrated into the national TV currency measurements in September 2020. Engagement with the playoff game accounted for the largest internet event in history, according to this data, with 30% of internet traffic prioritizing the game at this time.
A combination of multiplatform preliminary first party and Nielsen data demonstrates that the contest averaged 26.3 million viewers across Peacock, NFL+ and local NBC affiliates in Miami and Kansas City. WTVJ in Miami presented the game and attained a 14.5 rating and 41 share. KSHB in Kansas City collected a 45.1 rating and 74 share of the signature matchup.
These figures add to what was already a record-setting regular season for Sunday Night Football, on pace to finish as prime time television’s No. 1 program in all key metrics for a 13th consecutive year. The property possessed a total audience delivery (TAD) of 21.4 million viewers on the year, accounting for its best viewership since 2015. Data for the property was compiled equipping official national and same-day numbers by Nielsen Media Research, along with digital figures from Adobe Analytics.
For Peacock itself – which recently surpassed 30 million total subscribers – Saturday marked the largest single day of engagement for the streaming service across several key metrics. In the categories of audience usage, engagement and time spent, the platform attained new highs and also had 16.3 million concurrent devices utilizing the service simultaneously. Earlier in the year, Peacock presented its first exclusive NFL regular-season game, averaging 7.33 million viewers according to Sports Media Watch. Moreover, the streaming service realized an average minute audience (AMA) of more than 1.5 million viewers on the season for the first time.
“From NBC Sports and Peacock to the Comcast team, our entire company worked seamlessly to plan for this game and executed flawlessly to deliver a streaming experience with the NFL on a scale that’s never been done before,” Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corporation, said in a statement. “It’s a very proud moment.”
The NFL has been exploring its capabilities to present live game broadcasts on digital media platforms, evidenced by the experimentations with Peacock. Furthermore, the league entered into an 11-year agreement with Amazon to have Prime Video serve as the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football and launched NFL+, its own proprietary streaming service. NBC Sports President Rick Cordella conveyed that the platform is part of “everything we do” in a recent interview with Barrett Sports Media.
The Peacock exclusive NFL Wild Card game was broadcast by play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico, color commentator Jason Garrett and sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung, all of whom have also appeared on linear-based platforms throughout their careers. Additionally, the game had a lead-in of a linear matchup featuring the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans that averaged 29.0 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, NFL Digital and Telemundo.
The statistic renders this as the most-watched Saturday NFL Wild Card game on NBC since 2014. With an average minute audience (AMA) of 3.1 million viewers, the contest was also the largest streaming simulcast of an NFL game for NBC Sports, excluding the broadcast of Super Bowl LVI between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams.
NFL live game broadcasts accounted for 93 of the top-100 most-watched linear television programs throughout the previous calendar year, setting a new record in this category. The league could look to expand its presence in digital media as more consumers probe streaming services, many of which have additional programming in other genres, such as entertainment, drama and comedy.
“We couldn’t be prouder of our partnership with Peacock and are thrilled with the results of the first-ever exclusively live streamed NFL playoff game,” Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, said in a statement. “To best serve our fans, we need to ensure games are available to them as their viewing habits change and this includes digital distribution as we continue to help shape the future of the sports and entertainment industry.”
Viewership figures reported by NBCUniversal are based on the custom-fast national live and same day data from Nielsen Media Research. Official data surrounding viewership of the Peacock exclusive broadcast of the AFC Wild Card round game will be available this Friday.
