The NFL will embark on a new Christmas Day tradition starting this year. Christmas Day games have been played in the past throughout the NFL, but only on special occasions.  That changes Wednesday, as the league will play Christmas Day games in the middle of the week for the first time.

Netflix’s first NFL Christmas Day doubleheader ended up being successful globally. The Baltimore Ravens’ 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans averaged 31.3 million while Kansas City’s 29-10 win at Pittsburgh averaged 30 million worldwide,

In the NBA, the Christmas lineup averaged 5.25 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, a big increase from the all-time low of 2.85 million in 2023. ABC simulcast all five games this year, whereas the broadcaster only carried two a year ago due in part to its Monday Night Football obligation.

Thanks to NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, Netflix said it enjoyed its "most-watched Christmas day ever" in the U.S.

Netflix’s NFL debut set a new streaming record for the league, with an average audience of more than 24 million people in the U.S. watching each of the two Christmas Day games, according to preliminary Nielsen data.

NFL's Christmas Day double-header games were the most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history, according to preliminary Nielsen figures that don't include international viewership. Why it matters: Once international figures and additional U.

Netflix will have one of its biggest days Wednesday since the site launched in 1998 when it airs two NFL games for the first time.

D: As expected, Netflix boasted quite an impressive audience for its two Christmas Day NFL matchups. The Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans games, the first-ever NFL games on the streamer, put up an unduplicated audience of nearly 65 million U.

Netflix paid $150 million to air two NFL games exclusively on the streaming platform on Christmas Day and it yielded record-breaking viewing figures.

Beyoncé provided more excitement than either game during Netflix’s NFL debut on Christmas Day. Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday.