LOS ANGELES — Two of the NFL’s three games played on Christmas this season set viewership records.
The late afternoon game between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings on Netflix became the most-streamed NFL game in U.S. history, and the night game between the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs set a record for Amazon Prime Video.
The Vikings’ 23-10 victory over the Lions, an NFC North Division matchup, peaked at more than 30 million U.S. viewers and averaged 27.5 million, according to Nielsen. That surpasses the 27.2 million average for the Christmas 2024 game on Netflix between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texas, which was also in the late afternoon slot.
The Broncos’ 20-13 win over the Chiefs, an AFC West rivalry game, had a 21.06 million average on Prime, breaking the streaming service’s 19.39 million mark for the most-watched “Thursday Night Football” game in the four seasons it has had the package. The audience peaked at 22.9 million during the second quarter.
The first game of the league’s holiday tripleheader last week, an NFC East rivalry game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders, averaged 19.9 million. The Cowboys’ 30-23 win was sharply down from the 25.8 million that tuned in for last year’s early afternoon contest between the Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Figures for the three games also include local market viewing on broadcast stations and viewing on NFL Plus via mobile or web viewing.
Netflix and Nielsen said “Snoop’s Holiday Halftime Party” — the concert featuring Snoop Dogg occurred at halftime of the Lions-Vikings game — averaged 29 million.
The two Christmas games on Netflix were streamed globally, with viewers from more than 200 countries and territories watching at least one of the games. The Cowboys-Commanders game had a global average of 22.4 million, while the Lions-Vikings matchup had 30.5 million.
Netflix said its “NFL Christmas Gameday” drew more than 632 million social impressions globally, with Snoop Dogg’s halftime show garnering more than 100 million impressions. Snoop was the top trend socially in the U.S., along with Andrea Bocelli, Lainey Wilson and Duck Hodges.