Netflix‘s first broadcast of Christmas NFL games hit a snag on Wednesday as several issues occurred during the pregame show for Chiefs-Steelers.
The streaming giant, which also showed Mike Tyson’s fight versus Jake Paul last month, paid the NFL $150million to show two Christmas games this season.
And there were some early troubles before the first game of the day, as noted by the New York Post, with host Kay Adams’ microphone seemingly not working in the opening 10 seconds or so.
Minutes later, the show reportedly cut to a commercial for Squid Games while Mina Kimes was still speaking.
However – after many viewers of the Tyson-Paul fight complained about buffering problems – the streaming quality is said 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, and then some, during the Nov. 14 bout, along with internet service providers reporting they were also overwhelmed by the surge that occurred before and during the fight.
Netflix’s pregame show for Chiefs-Steelers began at 1pm ET – live from Pittsburgh
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will take on Russell Wilson and the Steelers on Netflix
The bout 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 logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to and during the fight.
It’s the first time that the company, which was founded in 1998, has aired NFL games.
The streaming giant agreed to a three-year contract in May to carry Christmas Day games – the second of which being Texans-Ravens later in the day.
Netflix´s 282.3 million subscribers in over 190 countries will be able to stream the games, marking the first time one outlet has distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix will have the games available in five languages – English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.
The games will also air on CBS affiliates in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Houston. NFL policy dictates that games on cable or being exclusively streamed must also be on an over-the-air station in the competing teams´ markets. It will also be available on mobile devices in the U.S. 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 games averaged 28.68 million viewers. The early afternoon contest between the Las Vegas Raiders and Chiefs led the way, averaging 29.48 million.
The NFL will have at least two games on Dec. 25 in 2025 and ´26, with Netflix slated to have at least one each year. Amazon Prime Video will have a night game with Christmas on a Thursday next year.
The Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens and Texans played on Saturday, giving them the same turnaround they would have if they played on Sunday and then Thursday.
All four have clinched playoff spots in the AFC, but seeding remains up for grabs.
