LeBron James and the NBA are sharing Christmas with the NFL this year. Both leagues had a successful Wednesday, with Netflix setting records as the most-streamed NFL game in US history and the NBA enjoying its best holiday numbers in five years.
The NFL’s two games on Christmas Day averaged 65 million viewers in the US, with the Baltimore Ravens’ victory over the Houston Texans averaging 24.3 million and Kansas City’s win at Pittsburgh averaging 24.1 million. The NBA’s five-game slate averaged 5.25 million viewers per game across its platforms.
The NFL has made Christmas one of its regular-season events, joining Kickoff Weekend and Thanksgiving. However, LeBron James jokingly said that Christmas is the “NFL’s day” after his postgame interview with a TV network. Hans Schroeder, the executive vice president of NFL Media, took James’ comments in jest while expressing excitement about the partnership between the NFL and Netflix.
The partnership has been successful, with viewership surpassing previous records. The games were the second- and third-most popular live titles on Netflix history, behind only a recent boxing match that averaged 65 million concurrent streams.
The NBA also had a strong holiday season, with all five Christmas games seeing year-over-year viewership increases. The league’s lineup saw an 84% rise over last year, thanks in part to being broadcast on ABC instead of one or two games as usual.
Overall, both the NFL and NBA are finding ways to coexist on Christmas, with each league enjoying its own success.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/27/nfl-ratings-nba-netflix-streaming-beyonce