Zinger Key Points
- The NFL has moved its coverage to extra days throughout the week, putting pressure on other sports leagues.
- NFL games on Christmas could be bad for the NBA and its media partners, but 2024 viewership shows that both leagues may win.
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The NFL aired two games on Christmas Day in 2024, a move that may have angered the NBA while also bringing in impressive viewership figures.
What Happened: While many sports leagues see strong viewership in the United States, the NFL has been king for years and that may have been even more evident with streaming records set Wednesday for its premiere on streaming giant Netflix Inc NFLX.
Two NFL Christmas Day games featuring four teams who have made the NFL Playoffs broke records for the league with an average of 24.1 million viewers for the earlier Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers game and an average of 24.3 million viewers for the Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans game.
The ratings beat a previous NFL streaming record of 23 million set by Comcast Corporation CMCSA with an exclusive game on Peacock during the previous NFL Playoffs. The figures also broke a regular-season record of 17.92 million set by the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers on Amazon.com Inc AMZN owned Prime Video in December, as reported by FrontOfficeSports.
Netflix said Nielsen data showed 65 million U.S. viewers watched at least one minute of the NFL games, with average viewership peaking at 27 million during Beyoncé’s halftime performance in the Ravens and Texans game.
NBA superstar LeBron James might not want to see the viewership figures and hear about the records.
After the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day, James declared the holiday as belonging to the NBA.
"I love the NFL. I love the NFL. But Christmas is our day," James said.
Read Also: Netflix To Release ‘Beyoncé Bowl’ NFL Halftime Performance As Standalone Special
Can NBA and NFL Both Win?: While Christmas produced records for the NFL, the NBA also enjoyed a strong day for viewership.
The NBA aired five games on Christmas Day, which aired on ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ and Disney+, all units of The Walt Disney Company DIS.
NBA Christmas Day games averaged 5.25 million viewers, up 84% year-over-year. Helping the viewership may have been the teams involved and the fact that all five games were available on ABC, while only two were last year.
This figure is the highest for the NBA on the holiday in five years. The Lakers and Warriors game averaged 7.76 million viewers, ranking as the NBA's most-watched Christmas Day game since 2019.
For the 2024 NBA season, viewership is now down 4% year-over-year after the Christmas day games, compared to being down 18% year-over-year ahead of Wednesday.
NBA viewership on ESPN platforms is now up 4% year-over-year, as reported by Deadline.
The NBA could also benefit from the Christmas Day games, with its owned NBA League Pass reporting its most-viewed Christmas Day ever.
What's Next: For the NFL, encroaching on other sports isn't exactly new and likely won't be changing anytime soon.
The NFL began Monday Night Football games in 1970 and later added Thursday Night Football games in 2006, which now stream on Prime Video.
NFL games air on Saturdays during December and January, diverging from the league’s usual avoidance of the day for most of the season due to NCAA Football and the restrictions of the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act. This year, the NCAA expanded its College Football Playoffs from four to 12 teams, leading to a rare head-to-head clash with the NFL last weekend.
On Saturday, Dec. 21, the NFL had two games, and there were three College Football Playoffs games, with two airing on TNT Sports, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery WBD, and one airing on ABC and ESPN.
Netflix has a three-year deal with the NFL and will stream at least one game on Christmas for the next two seasons.
The increase in Christmas Day games from the NFL might come as a bit of a surprise after the league said last year it was only scheduling games on Christmas 2023 because the day fell on Monday, a traditional NFL date, as reported by NBC Sports.
The league said it wouldn't schedule games on Christmas if it fell on a Tuesday or Wednesday previously, according to the report, but strong viewership last year and the potential for more money may have changed the league's mind.
Netflix has more sports content coming with its WWE deal through a partnership with TKO Group Holdings TKO, premiering on Jan. 6.
The NBA is likely stuck with going head-to-head with the NFL on Christmas Day, regardless of what day the holiday falls on. One way for the NBA to get back at the NFL would be to start scheduling games on Thanksgiving, a date the league has avoided due to the NFL having three games that day.
NFLX Price Action: Netflix stock was down 1.8% to $907.55 on Friday, versus a 52-week trading range of $461.86 to $941.75.
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