The Kansas City Chiefs’ wild-card battle against the Miami Dolphins made history as the most-streamed game in NFL history, captivating an impressive average of 23 million viewers on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. This record-breaking viewership surpasses the previous record set in late November, when the Dallas Cowboys secured a victory against the Seattle Seahawks on “Thursday Night Football,” attracting an average of 15.26 million viewers on Prime Video.
Remarkably, this surge in viewership on Saturday was attributed to fans outside of Kansas City and Miami being required to pay a subscription fee to access the game. Peacock offers a “Premium” subscription option for $5.99 per month, which includes live sports coverage. Touting a staggering 30 million subscribers last week, the service saw a remarkable 75% increase in subscriptions compared to the previous year.
This game undeniably marked a significant milestone in NFL history, as it was the very first playoff matchup solely broadcasted on a streaming network. Prior to this landmark event, Peacock had exclusively streamed a regular-season game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills, averaging an impressive 7.3 million viewers.
Rick Cordella, the president of NBC Sports, highlighted the importance of the game’s success in terms of production quality, technological distribution, and meeting various metrics. These goals included evaluating the number of subscribers gained, new subscriber acquisitions, reaching internal traffic targets, and advertiser satisfaction.
The average viewership of 23 million viewers for the game exceeded last year’s least-watched playoff game by a few million viewers. This overwhelming success of the exclusive live-streamed playoff game strongly suggests that we can anticipate more of these captivating events in the future.
In conclusion, the clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins made history as the most-streamed game in NFL history, captivating an astounding average of 23 million viewers on Peacock. With a significant increase in subscriptions and an unprecedented surge in viewership, this exclusive live-streamed playoff game has paved the way for more captivating events in the future.
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