Beyoncé delivered more excitement than any game on Netflix’s NFL debut on Christmas Day.
Riding into his halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked his hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday.
She surprised fans by bringing out Shabuji to perform “Sweet Honey Buckin'” and Post Malone joined her for “Levi’s Jeans.”
The action on the field did not live up to expectations as the NFL featured four of the top five teams in the AFC.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce led Pittsburgh’s defense in a 29-10 loss to Kansas City in Game 1.
According to NFL Media, the broadcast itself did well, quickly becoming the second most popular live title on Netflix.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens led C.J. Stroud and the Texans 17-2 at halftime before Beyoncé stole the show. Baltimore rested Jackson in the fourth quarter and cruised to a 31-2 victory.
Mariah Carey opened the football doubleheader with a taped performance of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and then the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs beat the Steelers to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
There were no signs of any major streaming issues during the game, with Netflix experiencing minor glitches at the start of the pregame show. The broadcast opened with about 10 seconds of silence because studio host Kay Adams’ microphone was not turned on.
Beyoncé’s live performance at NRG Stadium was supposed to be one of the biggest tests for the streaming giant and it looks set to go off without a hitch.
Mahomes threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and Kelce had eight catches for 84 yards and a score as the Chiefs (15-1) earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs. The Steelers (10-6) have lost three straight and may have to settle for a wild-card spot.
Jackson tossed two touchdown passes and ran for a score and Derrick Henry rushed for 147 yards and a TD to help the Ravens (11-5) move into first place in the AFC North, one game ahead of Pittsburgh.
Netflix agreed to a three-year deal in May to broadcast the Christmas Day games. The NFL is expected to give the streaming service its biggest day since the site launched in 1998.
Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries can stream the games, marking the first time an outlet has distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix had games available in five languages – English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German.
Netflix had trouble streaming the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on November 14. The bout peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million concurrent streams in the United States. According to the website Down Detector, about 85,000 viewers reported outages or problems with streaming and during the fight.
Fewer complaints were received on Wednesday.
According to NFL Media, viewers in all 50 states tuned in the minute the pregame show went live, and viewers in nearly 200 countries watched the first game. Prior to the launch of Ravens-Texans, Netflix reported that it eclipsed the top concurrent viewership of any Christmas in the past four years.
The NFL was playing its first game on Wednesday since the Steelers and Ravens were forced to play on December 2, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The only other time since 1948 that they played on a Wednesday was in 2012 when the Giants and Cowboys met in the season opener.
Commercial
Netflix promoted its own programming in addition to the usual many commercials. The first teaser trailer of “Happy Gilmore 2” was released before the kickoff. Adam Sandler is back as Happy Gilmore for the sports comedy that hits the streaming service in 2025. Travis Kelce was also featured in the trailer, which was filled with celebrity cameos including Bad Bunny and Kid Cudi.
A new Christmas tradition
The NFL played its first games on Christmas Day in 1971 with a pair of divisional playoff games. The league avoided playing on December 25 from 1972-88 and moved the entire slate of games to Saturdays if Christmas fell on a Sunday. Since 1989, there have been 30 games on Christmas Day, never more than three on that day. But the NFL went out of its way to schedule two games Wednesday to accommodate its $150 million deal with Netflix.
Broadcast teams
JJ Watt, three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and brother of Steelers four-time All-Pro edge rusher TJ Watt, and former NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson shared analyst duties for the Chiefs-Steelers game, with Ian Eagle on the play. – playing
“I’m very proud of him and a little worried that he’s getting close to a lot of my records,” JJ Watt said of his younger brother at the start of the broadcast.
Noah Eagle, Ian’s son, was on play-by-play for the Ravens-Texans game, with former NFL tight end Greg Olsen in the analyst seat.
Not the first
This isn’t the first time NFL games have aired exclusively on a streaming service. The league’s Thursday night games are in their third season on Amazon Prime Video, the Peacock streamed the Packers-Eagles game in Sao Paulo, Brazil in Week 1 and Prime Video will stream the wild-card game. Also, the “Sunday Ticket” package moved to YouTube TV last year.
Last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Miami Dolphins and Chiefs had the most viewers for a streamed-exclusive NFL game on Peacock at 23 million.