Netflix’s rookie start as an NFL media partner hasn’t achieved much success – so far.

The streamer’s first Christmas game, Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, began at 1 p.m. ET, after two hours of pregame coverage. Next up is Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans (beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET), with superstar Beyoncé taking the field at halftime to perform a song from “Cowboy Carter.”

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Apparently Netflix provided the live streams without any major problems. As of 1:30 p.m. ET, there were minimal error reports for Netflix on Downdetector, an availability monitoring service, in the US. The relatively small number of user-reported problems with Netflix on December 25 (about 600 as of 1:13 p.m. ET) does not indicate widespread technical difficulties.

Netflix execs are certainly breathing a sigh of relief: The global streamer’s first flight with the NFL has been closely watched as its previous live sporting event — the Nov. 15 fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson — ran into technical turmoil.

It is possible that demand for Paul-Tyson was higher than for the two football games on Christmas Day. Before Christmas Day, the four AFC teams competing in the Netflix doubleheader had already secured all playoff spots, so the results of the contests are only relevant to the postseason seedings. Meanwhile, ABC and ESPN will present five NBA games on December 25 – a 13-hour block of sports programming – continuing the NBA’s long-standing Christmas tradition.

Despite the glitches on the Tyson Paul livestream, the event attracted an estimated Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 108 million live viewers worldwide, making it the “most streamed global sporting event of all time,” according to the streamer. The event peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, including 38 million concurrent streams in the US. “It’s a Super Bowl-like audience that we’ve been able to attract,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at an investment conference this month.

On November 15, during parts of the Paul Tyson event, thousands of Netflix customers took to social media to complain about their video feeds freezing while the live stream was buffered. A disgruntled customer filed a lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the event was “unwatchable” due to technical issues.

Per Netflix’s agreement with the NFL in the US, the two games will air three hours after the live stream ends (meaning the Ravens-Texans game, including Beyoncé’s performance, will no longer be available on Netflix starting at approximately 11:00 p.m. ET The Chiefs-Steelers will be gone around 7 p.m. ET). Outside the US, games on Netflix expire 24 hours after the live stream ends. (NFL Network plans to re-air both games on cable.)

Netflix’s NFL live streams included commercial breaks, even for subscribers with ad-free plans. Of course, the company used the property to promote its own upcoming programming, with promos for the second season of “Squid Game” (world premiere December 26), “WWE Monday Night Raw” and “Black Doves,” as well as trailers for “The Night Agent” S2 and Adam Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore 2”.

Coming soon, Netflix has rights to at least one NFL Christmas game in 2025 and 2026. Starting in January 2025, Netflix will broadcast WWE “Monday Night Raw” live every week as part of a 10-year, $5 billion deal. Last week, the streamer signed a deal for exclusive US rights to the 2027 and 2031 installments of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

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