Netflix achieved a significant milestone by breaking viewership records with its Christmas Day NFL games this year. The Minnesota Vikings-Detroit Lions livestream garnered an average of 27.5 million viewers, making it the most-streamed NFL game in U.S. history according to Nielsen. This peak moment reached over 30 million viewers, with the halftime show, “Snoop’s Holiday Halftime Party,” averaging 29 million viewers. Netflix also streamed the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Commanders game, which attracted an average audience of 19.9 million viewers.

In addition to Netflix's success, Amazon Prime Video also saw record viewership for its Christmas NFL game. The Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs livestream, averaging 21.1 million viewers, became Amazon’s most-watched Thursday Night Football regular-season game ever, placing between Netflix’s two streams in terms of viewership.

Comparing this year's performance to previous years, Netflix's first-ever Christmas games last year averaged 24.3 million and 24.1 million viewers. While these numbers were less than this year’s Lions-Vikings game, they surpassed the Cowboys-Commanders game. Notably, Netflix has now distributed all three of the all-time most-streamed NFL games in the U.S., including last year's games and this year's Lions-Vikings matchup.

Beyond U.S. domestic figures, Netflix's NFL games had a broad global reach, with viewers from over 200 countries and territories tuning in to at least one of the 2025 (likely 2024, given context) games. The Lions-Vikings game achieved an average minute audience of 30.5 million viewers worldwide, and the Cowboys-Commanders game reached 22.4 million globally.

The success of the NFL games contributed to an already strong Christmas Day for Netflix. The platform also launched Volume 2 of the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things,” which became Netflix’s No. 1 most-watched title worldwide on December 25th and accumulated 34.5 million views throughout the week of December 22-28.

The NFL telecasts were enhanced by a diverse entertainment lineup, featuring Netflix talent. Snoop Dogg's halftime show included singers from Huntr/x, the fictional girl group from “KPop Demon Hunters,” alongside Lainey Wilson. Martha Stewart introduced the show with a Snoop-themed parody of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The Cowboys-Commanders game’s halftime show was led by the Sugarhill Gang. Both games were produced by CBS Sports, with NFL Media handling pre- and post-game content and studio halftime programming, and EverWonder Studio executive producing Netflix’s telecast.