Netflix's NFL Viewership Numbers Show Streaming's Growing Pains

So we opened up the beach house this weekend, the one my daughter regards as her second home, and what did we discover? She bought a smart TV. But get this, she didn't even bother to attach the cable. Ouch!
I don't know how to live without cable, but she -- a 23-year-old -- doesn't even think about hooking it up (even though I'm paying for cable service).
I wouldn't have noticed if my wife hadn't said: "Don't you wish we could watch the NFL games -- the Christmas Day special -- on your big-screen TV rather than on your computer?" (Even though I have a beautiful screen.)
The NFL games, like so many other Netflix productions, are quirky and not for everyone, which is why we like them. So I turn the TV on and next thing you know, it's one click right to Netflix (NFLX). We binged on the NFL games and went to sleep on the floor watching the show.


Now, my wife Lisa is not the least bit interested in Mad Money or TheStreet or anything I do with stocks. So I don't know why, but on the way back from the shore, I decided to bore her and talk about the FANGs and what they mean.
I said that everyone keeps pronouncing the FANGs dead, but that I'll bet that Netflix blows away the numbers on Monday. She said: "Of course, because it's the original content that makes it great. And it doesn't matter what country it's made in, people love it."

This is something I've heard from my daughter over and over again. She's not just a cord-cutter, but a "cord-never" who thinks nothing about watching a program in any language with subtitles.
Personally, I despised subtitles when I was growing up and simply chose not to watch anything with them. But my daughter the cord-never? Netflix taught her to like subtitles.
Obviously, based on Monday night's Netflix earnings number and commentary, she's not alone. Netflix has original content from 17 countries and the content seems interchangeable.

Oh, and how about the rest of FANG -- Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix and Google/Alphabet (GOOGL)?
I know that they've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Amazon, from President Trump's constant nagging refrain about the post office to stories everywhere about Tuesday's U.S. Supreme Court hearing on online-sales taxes. Or the plea from Oracle (ORCL) to Trump not to let Amazon have a Department of Defense cloud-computing contract even though no one outside of Oracle management would really contest that its cloud service could take on Amazon Web Services. And yet, AMZN's stock price keeps going higher.

How about Alphabet? Easy -- the stock likes to go up until we see the quarterly results, and then it gets hammered as it disappoints. It's clockwork.
And Facebook? As I said to CNBC's David Faber on Monday: "What was that Cambridge Analytica thing about any way?"
Now, I stick by my view that Facebook needs someone independent to come in and assess the situation, and that they can't afford to have another Cambridge Analytica. In fact, the lack of an external investigator is why we recently sold some FB stock in my Action Alerts PLUS club's charitable trust.

Nevertheless, I've canvassed packaged-goods companies and found more execs who backed away from Google because of YouTube's problems with ad adjacencies than I've found those who've backed away from Facebook because of the sloppy way it handled Cambridge Analytica.
I'm sure Facebook's bottom line will be hurt by what happened. We said that ourselves when we did repeated write-ups of the stock for AAP, including those covering the sale of some FB shares. But what will happen without a new incident is that Facebook management will have to "own" the decline in the company's growth rate. And then we'll have to see how many investors can handle a growth stock that can only be described as "value" given even a toned-down growth rate.

But this is a Netflix show right now, and while I'm sure there'll be profit-takers following Monday night's earnings release, I know that those who guess management is going to spend too much on original content have to wonder: "Hmm, how could I have been that wrong?"
Yes, the bears will point to Netflix's absurd $3 billion to $4 billion cash burn. But the bulls? They'll point to my daughter... and the millions of other consumers like her who we didn't even know existed until Netflix came along.

Netflix reported strong viewership numbers for its Christmas Day NFL football games and Beyoncé halftime show. But Netflix stock fell Friday.
Netflix delivers the two most streamed NFL games in US history with an average audience of over 24M viewers each, highlighted by Beyoncé’s epic halftime performance. Christmas was a record-breaking day for Netflix and the NFL, with an unduplicated audience of nearly 65M US viewers according to Nielsen. Ravens-Texans (24.3M AMA) and Chiefs-Steelers (24.1M AMA) are the most-streamed NFL games in US history, according to Nielsen. US viewership for Ravens-Texans peaked with Beyoncé Bowl, with over 27 million viewers according to Nielsen. AMA viewership figures are based on Fast National Live + Same Day data from Nielsen which includes out-of-home viewing and CBS local market viewing along with mobile and web data from Netflix and NFL+ mobile viewing from NFL. Global ratings and additional US insights will be released on December 31, providing a comprehensive look at Netflix’s NFL Christmas Gameday performance worldwide. The second game of the Netflix Christmas doubleheader, Ravens-Texans, was the most-watched Christmas Day game on record among A18-34 with 5.1 million US viewers (based on Nielsen records dating back to 2001). Netflix’s Christmas Day games dominated global social conversation. #BeyonceBowl rocketed to the #1 worldwide trend on X immediately as her performance kicked off — replacing #Christmas itself. Following her performance, Netflix occupied 10 of the top 12 trending topics on X in the US. #NFLonNetflix also trended around the world, reaching a peak of #2 in Australia, #3 in the UK and Germany, #5 in Brazil and France, #6 in the US. CBS Sports produced the games, with NFL Media producing the pre, post, and studio halftime programming. EverWonder Studio executive produced NFL Christmas Gameday. "Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered," said Bela Bajaria, Netflix Chief Content Officer. "We're thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let's please not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.”“We’re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a global audience,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution. “Fans in all 50 states and over 200 countries around the world watched some of the league’s brightest stars along with a dazzling performance by Beyoncé in a historic day for the NFL.”

Netflix's NFL viewership numbers show that streaming is growing, but it's not without its challenges. While the NFL games on Netflix attracted a massive audience, the viewership was still lower than traditional broadcast and cable TV viewership for similar events in previous years. For instance, last year's Christmas games, which were broadcast on traditional TV and cable networks, each out-rated this year's offerings. The Raiders vs. Chiefs on CBS netted 29.2 million viewers, the Eagles vs. Giants on Fox scored 29 million, and the 49ers vs. Ravens on ESPN had 27.1 million viewers on average, according to Nielsen.

Moreover, Netflix's NFL Christmas Day games did not reach the viewership heights of other major sporting events on streaming platforms. For example, Netflix's boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in November 2024 was watched by 108 million households worldwide, which is the largest live event excluding Super Bowls since President Richard Nixon's resignation. This event significantly outperformed Netflix's NFL viewership.

In conclusion, while Netflix's NFL viewership has been successful, it has not yet reached the heights of other major sporting events on streaming platforms, particularly when compared to traditional broadcast and cable TV viewership. However, it is important to note that Netflix's NFL viewership is still a significant achievement for the streaming platform, and it will be interesting to see how viewership numbers develop in the future.