YouTube got into the game with its first exclusive NFL broadcast Sept. 5, which the Google-owned platform says averaged more than 17.3 million global viewers.
That stat was based on the average minute audience (AMA) for Friday’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers taking place in São Paulo, Brazil.
Per YouTube, this included 16.2 million AMAs across YouTube and other distribution platforms in the U.S., according to Nielsen and YouTube-compiled data, and 1.1 million AMAs outside of the U.S., according to YouTube’s own numbers.
For reference, in January 2025, Amazon reported that its third year streaming the NFL‘s “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video averaged 13.2 million U.S. viewers per game for the 2024 season, according to Nielsen. That was up 11% over the previous season of 11.86 million, and an increase of 38% over the inaugural season in 2021, which averaged 9.58 million.
And over on Netflix, the Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans games averaged 30 million global viewers and 31.3 million global viewers, respectively, on Christmas Day. In total, those two games averaged 26.5 million U.S. viewers, according to the Nielsen Big Data + Panel.
The YouTube livestream of the Sept. 5 game — which saw the Chargers defeat the Chiefs by a score of 27-21 — reached a global audience in more than 230 countries and territories, according to the video platform.
YouTube’s free NFL livestream served as a vehicle for it to promote its exclusive retail rights to Sunday Ticket in the U.S., which includes access to all out-of-market Sunday regular-season NFL games broadcast on CBS and Fox. Currently, YouTube charges $276 for full-season access to Sunday Ticket, or $85 per month on a month-to-month plan. YouTube nabbed Sunday Ticket (previously exclusively offered by DirecTV) starting with the 2023 season in a seven-year Sunday Ticket deal under which Google is reportedly paying the NFL upwards of $2 billion per year.
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The Chiefs-Chargers pregame show, which was hosted by YouTube creators Kay Adams and Peter Overzet, along with NFL vets Cam Newton, Derek Carr, Brandon Marshall, and Tyrann Mathieu, averaged 2.4 million U.S. viewers, according to Nielsen, while the postgame show, hosted by Kay Adams and Cam Newton, averaged 5.9 million.
During the game, YouTube debuted new content from creators including MrBeast, Haley Kalil, Michelle Khare and Marques Brownlee, and hosted Karol G as the halftime show performer.
YouTube’s main show broadcast was hosted by Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Stacey Dales and Terry McAulay, as well as YouTube creator and former pro football kicker Deestroying. The main Spanish-language broadcast was hosted by René Giraldo and Edgar Lopez.
YouTube also offered alternate livestreams of the main game broadcast hosted by IShowSpeed and Tom Grossi in English; by Robegrill and SKabeche in Spanish; and by CazéTV for the local Brazilian audience and other Portuguese-speaking viewers.
From Variety US