This Christmas, Netflix successfully captured the attention of millions, demonstrating its significant impact on live sports broadcasting. The streaming giant not only broke a U.S. viewership record with a pivotal NFL game but also solidified its position as a major player in the competitive sports entertainment landscape. This achievement highlights the evolving ways audiences engage with live events and the growing preference for digital platforms.
Netflix Shatters NFL Viewership Records with Christmas Day Stream
On a festive Christmas Day, December 25, 2025, Netflix achieved a remarkable milestone in the realm of live sports streaming. The exclusive broadcast of the Minnesota Vikings versus Detroit Lions NFL game drew an astounding average of 27.5 million viewers across the United States, as meticulously reported by Nielsen. This figure not only represents a monumental success for the streaming service but also officially designates the match as the most-streamed NFL game in U.S. history. The peak viewership during this thrilling encounter surpassed 30 million, further emphasizing its widespread appeal. Notably, the halftime spectacle, dubbed “Snoop's Holiday Halftime Party,” captivated an average of 29 million viewers, showcasing the enhanced entertainment value Netflix brought to the traditional game-day experience.
Beyond this record-breaking game, Netflix also presented another NFL matchup on Christmas Day: the Dallas Cowboys against the Washington Commanders, which garnered an impressive 19.9 million average viewers. In a broader context of holiday sports streaming, Amazon Prime Video's broadcast of the Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs game attracted 21.1 million viewers, becoming its most-watched Thursday Night Football regular-season game ever. Comparatively, Netflix's inaugural Christmas NFL games last year achieved viewership averages of 24.3 million and 24.1 million, laying the groundwork for this year's even greater success. The platform now proudly holds the distinction of having distributed the top three most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history.
While Nielsen's data focuses on the U.S. audience, Netflix's global reach for these NFL games was extensive, with viewers from more than 200 countries and territories tuning in. The Lions-Vikings game alone commanded an average minute audience of 30.5 million worldwide, while the Cowboys-Commanders game attracted 22.4 million international viewers. This unprecedented sports viewership contributed to an already strong Christmas Day for Netflix, which also saw the release of Volume 2 of the fifth and final season of "Stranger Things." The sci-fi sensation became Netflix's most-watched title globally on December 25, accumulating 34.5 million views throughout the week of December 22-28, underscoring a banner holiday season for the streamer.
The telecasts were enriched with diverse entertainment segments, featuring Netflix's own talent. The halftime show for the Lions-Vikings game, led by Snoop Dogg, showcased the singers from Huntr/x, the fictional girl group from "KPop Demon Hunters," and included appearances by Lainey Wilson and Martha Stewart, who delivered a Snoop-themed rendition of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The Cowboys-Commanders game's halftime entertainment was headlined by the legendary Sugarhill Gang. Both games were produced in collaboration with CBS Sports, with NFL Media overseeing pre-game, post-game, and studio halftime programming, and EverWonder Studio executive producing Netflix’s broadcasts.
This landmark achievement by Netflix signals a significant shift in how major sporting events are consumed, highlighting the increasing power of streaming platforms. The ability to draw such massive audiences, coupled with engaging entertainment, demonstrates Netflix's strategic success in diversifying its content and capturing new demographics. It also poses intriguing questions for the future of traditional television broadcasting and the evolving landscape of sports rights, indicating a future where digital platforms will likely play an even more central role in delivering live events to a global audience.