(AP): On Christmas, LeBron James and the NBA will have to make place for the NFL.
It shouldn’t be an issue. On Wednesday, both leagues emerged victorious.
According to Nielsen, the NBA enjoyed its greatest holiday figures in five years, and Netflix broke records for the most-streamed NFL games in American history.
According to the NFL and Nielsen, 65 million Americans watched at least one minute of one of the two NFL games.
According to preliminary Nielsen audience numbers provided on Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens’ 31-2 victory against the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million, while Kansas City’s 29-10 victory at Pittsburgh averaged 24.1 million.
According to the league and Nielsen, the NBA’s five-game schedule drew an average of 5.25 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, and its platforms.
During his Wednesday night TV postgame interview, James joked, “I love the NFL.” However, we celebrate Christmas.
The ratings for Wednesday, however, indicated that both are possible.
The NFL has made Christmas one of its main events throughout the regular season, along with Kickoff Weekend and Thanksgiving, despite the NBA having the sports calendar all to itself on December 25 for many years.
In addition to being happy about the first season of the league’s three-year deal with Netflix, NFL Media executive vice president Hans Schroeder took James’ remarks in humor.
“I’m sure more people will look at that because the numbers speak for themselves and LeBron can have his own view,” he remarked. However, we’re concentrating on the NFL, and we’re happy with the outcome of this year’s Christmas on Netflix. We’re eager to build on that over the coming years.
The previous record of 23 million for the Miami Dolphins vs. Chiefs AFC wild-card game on Peacock was exceeded by both NFL games.
The Beyoncé Bowl was the Ravens-Texans game with the highest viewership. On average, roughly 27 million people watched the nearly 13-minute halftime show.
The numbers of watchers include those who watched on Netflix, NFL+ on mobile devices, and CBS stations in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Houston.
On Tuesday, final U.S. numbers and global ratings should be available.
Although not as quickly as is typically the case when programming transitions from broadcast to streaming, the NFL’s Christmas statistics did decline from the previous season.
The three games last year drew an average of 28.68 million viewers. With an average viewership of 29.48 million on CBS, the Las Vegas Raiders vs. Chiefs game in the early afternoon took the lead.
It is anticipated that both Christmas games will top 30 million once global and Netflix’s first-party figures are made public.
Only the bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul on November 14th was more popular than the games, which were the second and third most watched live titles on Netflix. The match peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million in the US, and had an average global viewership of 60 million.
Next year, there will be at least two NFL games on Christmas, but since it falls on a Thursday, there will probably be three, two in the afternoon, and one in the prime. Since 2006, the NFL has played three Thanksgiving Day games.
Less complaints about streaming were one of Netflix’s main victories on Wednesday. It appears that the sole complaint from the majority was that if someone tuned in after the game began, the broadcast did not instantly switch to live action.
Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement regarding the Christmas shows that the streaming service is grateful for the NFL partnership, the on-air talent, and, of course, the amazing Beyoncé and Mariah Carey.
On X, now known as Twitter, Beyonc’s performance was the most popular social media trend globally. Additionally, the hashtag #NFLonNetflix gained popularity globally, peaking at number two in Australia, third in the UK and Germany, fifth in Brazil and France, and sixth in the US.
The NBA declared Thursday that all five of its Christmas games—San Antonio vs. New York, Victor Wembanyama’s holiday debut, Minnesota vs. Dallas, Philadelphia vs. Boston, Denver vs. Phoenix, and Lakers vs. Warriors—saw gains in viewership over the previous year.
Compared to 2023, the NBA’s lineup increased by 84%. The fact that all five games were broadcast on ABC, as opposed to just two previous year, is one factor contributing to the increase.
According to the league, the Lakers’ 115-113 victory over the Warriors, which included Olympic teammates James and Stephen Curry, drew an average of 7.76 million viewers and peaked at roughly 8.32 million near the end of the game.
The NBA regular season game with the highest viewership in five years is represented by those figures.
According to Wednesday’s figures, NBA viewership increased by 4% over the previous season on all ESPN platforms. Additionally, the league set a new milestone on Wednesday with over 500 million video views on its social media channels.
Despite complaints that NBA viewership is declining, all of those are encouraging signals for the league.
At the start of the season, ratings are a little lower. However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated earlier this month that cable television viewership is down double digits so far this year compared to last year. We’re almost at the tipping point when more people consume content on streaming services than on traditional television, you know. And for that reason, every game will be accessible on a streaming service as part of our new television agreements, which we will be entering into next year.
The NBA is increasing the number of regular season games that are televised from 15 to 75 as part of the new package of television arrangements that it is entering into for the next season.
ESPN and ABC will continue to broadcast the Christmas Day games as part of the 11-year arrangement.
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