NFL's Netflix debut on Christmas Day kicked off without a glitch
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Netflix's NFL launch on Christmas Day started smoothly and without any issues.
Mariah Carey kicked off Wednesday's doubleheader by performing a recorded version of "All I Want for Christmas is You." Following her, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs, who have won the Super Bowl twice in a row, went up against Russell Wilson, T.J. Watt, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Houston Texans are set to face off against the Baltimore Ravens in the second matchup, as the NFL highlights four of the top five teams from the AFC.
In May, Netflix signed a three-year deal to stream games on Christmas Day. The streaming service is anticipating one of its highest viewership days since it started in 1998.
Netflix has 282.3 million subscribers across over 190 countries, allowing them to stream NFL games for the first time ever from a single source. These games can be viewed in five different languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.
On November 14, Netflix encountered issues while streaming the Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul fight. The event reached a high of 65 million simultaneous streams, with 38 million of those happening in the U.S. Reports from Down Detector indicated that around 85,000 users experienced difficulties, including outages and streaming issues, both prior to and during the fight.
There were no indications of issues early Wednesday during the game, despite a few mishaps in the pregame show. The broadcast began with about 10 seconds of dead air, as it seemed that studio host Kay Adams' microphone was muted.
The most significant challenge is expected to occur during halftime of the Ravens-Texans matchup, featuring a live performance by Beyoncé at NRG Stadium.
As reported by NFL Media, people from every state across the nation started watching just moments after the pregame show began, and fans from almost 200 countries tuned in to catch the buildup to the kickoff.
The NFL is set to host its first Wednesday games since December 2, 2020, when the Steelers and Ravens had to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league hasn't held a Wednesday match since 1948, except for a single instance in 2012 when the Giants faced the Cowboys in the opening game of the season.
