Chiefs Vs Dolphins Playoff Game On Peacock Was The Most Watched Live Streaming Event In U.S. History, NBC Says

Topline The Kansas City Chiefs' 26 7 win against the Miami Dolphins in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs was the most watched live streaming event in U.S. history, NBCUniversal announced Monday. Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey (5) tries to tackle Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce ...

[+] (87) during the second half of an NFL wild card playoff football game. Key Facts According to NBCUniversal, Saturday night’s playoff game drew an average of 23.0 million viewers across the streaming platform Peacock, NBC’s local affiliates in Miami and Kansas City and on the NFL+ mobile app.

The wild card game was the first ever NFL post season game to be exclusively live streamed to most viewers in the country and the media giant says it accounted for 30% of all internet traffic in the U.S. during the game. The event peaked at an average of 24.6 million viewers during the second quarter and reached a total of 27.6 million viewers according to Nielsen data.

NBC’s Peacock streaming service was used on 16.3 million concurrent devices—accounting for more than half of its around 30 million subscribers —although the company doesn’t mention any jump in new signups. Big Number 15.26 million. That is the average number of viewers for the previous NFL streaming record holder, a Thursday Night Football game from late November that aired on Amazon Prime Video where the Dallas Cowboys beat the Seattle Seahawks 41 35 win, according to Nielsen data.

Crucial Quote NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was “thrilled with the results of the first ever exclusively live streamed NFL playoff game.” Goodell appeared to signal that more big games could come to streaming platforms saying: “To best serve our fans, we need to ensure games are available to them as their viewing habits change and this includes digital distribution as we continue to help shape the future of the sports and entertainment industry.” Contra The NFL’s decision to put a playoff game featuring the defending Super Bowl champions behind a paywalled streaming service—excluding the Miami and Kansas City local markets where the game was broadcast by NBC affiliate stations—had come under strong criticism from fans and even lawmakers .

Tweets made from Peacock’s official X account on game day were inundated with viewers complaining about the video quality, login troubles, sound issues and other glitches. It is unclear how widespread the issues were, but a Verge report compared the game to a “surprisingly standard HD NFL viewing experience,” suggesting most the issues took place at the start of the game.

Tangent Despite notching up strong numbers the playoff game falls well short of the record for the biggest live streamed event in the world—the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final game between India and Australia. The game which was streamed live on Disney+ Hotstar in India reported a peak concurrent viewership of around 59 million people—beating a record the platform had set days before with the India vs New Zealand semi final with 53 million.

Unlike Saturday night’s Peacock stream, however, a non HD version of the Cricket World Cup games was available to stream for free on Disney+ Hotstar in India..