Netflix’s first broadcast of Christmas NFL games crashed Wednesday after several issues arose during the Chiefs-Steelers pregame show.
The streaming giant, which also showed Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul last month, paid the NFL $150 million to show two Christmas games this season.
And there were some early issues before the first match of the day, as noted by the New York Postwith host Kay Adams’ microphone seemingly not working in the first ten seconds or so.
Minutes later, the show was reportedly turned into a commercial for Squid Games while Mina Kimes was still speaking.
But — after many viewers of the Tyson-Paul fight complained about buffering issues — streaming quality was reported to have been good during Netflix’s pregame show on Wednesday.
Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction series and sports, said the system was stress-tested during the Nov. 14 fight, and some, along with internet providers, reported they were also overwhelmed by the surge before and during the fight took place. the fight.
Netflix’s Chiefs-Steelers pregame show started at 1:00 PM ET – live from Pittsburgh
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will take on Russell Wilson and the Steelers on Netflix
The fight peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million concurrent streams in the United States. According to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers reported issues with dropouts or streaming in the lead-up to and during the fight.
This is the first time the company, founded in 1998, has broadcast NFL games.
The streaming giant agreed in May to a three-year contract to offer games on Christmas Day – the second of which is Texans-Ravens later in the day.
Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries will be able to stream the games, marking the first time one outlet has distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix will make the games available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German.
The games will also be broadcast on CBS affiliates in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Houston. NFL policy requires that games broadcast on cable or streamed exclusively must also be broadcast on a wireless station in the competing teams’ markets. It will also be available on mobile devices in the US for those who have NFL+.
It also continues the NFL’s moves into streaming: Thursday night games are in their third season on Amazon Prime Video, and the “Sunday Ticket” package moved to YouTube TV last year.
Last year’s three Christmas plays attracted an average of 28.68 million viewers. The early afternoon game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Chiefs led the way, with an average of 29.48 million.
The NFL will have at least two games on December 25 in 2025 and ’26, while Netflix will have at least one every year. Amazon Prime Video will have a Christmas night game on Thursday next year.
The Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens and Texans played on Saturday, giving them the same turnaround if they would have played on Sunday and Thursday.
All four have clinched a playoff spot in the AFC, but seeding is still up for grabs.