Netflix recently signed a three-season deal with the NFL through which it will broadcast at least one NFL game on Christmas Day every year. The agreement, which is reportedly worth about $75 million per contest, is the first endeavor into live professional football games made by the media conglomerate.
Netflix recently stated that its over-the-top streaming service had 269.6 million paid subscribers in Q1 2024. The platform ranked sixth among media providers in monthly television viewing in April, responsible for 7.6% of viewing according to Nielsen Media Research. Adam Schein discussed why the NFL was able to reach such a deal with Netflix and further disseminate its inventory of games ahead of the new season on the Thursday edition of Schein on Sports on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio.
Schein began the segment on his show through a repetitive series of statements surrounding the game that gradually built up to reach a climax pertaining to why the deal was made. In the end, he stated that the NFL on Christmas on Netflix on a Wednesday is possible because of the power of the NFL and how the league is a “cash cow.”
NFL regular season viewership averaged 17.9 million viewers per game during the 2023 regular season, which was up 7% from the previous season and the best metric since 2015. The league also achieved ratings triumphs in the playoffs that culminated in a record-setting Super Bowl broadcast from Paramount Global that averaged 123.7 million viewers, the most people to watch the same broadcast in television history according to Nielsen Media Research.
“These games on Christmas – my goodness, is it Christmas yet?,” Schein exclaimed. “I mean, Santa Goodell delivered for you already. Are you kidding me? Chiefs at Steelers, 1 p.m. Eastern time on Christmas. Ravens-Texans in Houston? Buckle up buttercup. I can’t wait.”
The NFL scheduled two games on Christmas Day last year, the first of which was an early afternoon matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders, which ended up averaging 29.2 million viewers. This was the most-watched Christmas Day for the league in 34 years and up 29% year-over-year from the comparable game in the year prior.
The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers closed out the holiday on ABC and ESPN+, amassing an average of 27.1 million viewers on ABC and ESPN+. The game finished as the second most-watched Monday Night Football game in 27 years and completed a day in which the NFL surpassed the five-game NBA slate in average viewership. Those matchups, which were presented on ESPN and ABC throughout the day and included several marquee teams, averaged 2.85 million viewers.
“And guess what? You’re going to watch,” Schein said. “And guess what? The NFL signed a three-year deal with Netflix, and even though my dad’s going to ask me a thousand times how to get the games and where to get the games and does his TV get Netflix, it’s a monster win.”
