Dolphins Chiefs NFL Wild Card Game Delivers Record Audience for Peacock

The NFL delivered for NBCUniversal streamer Peacock on Saturday as the exclusive Wild Card playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs drew an average audience of about 23 million viewers. NBCUniversal shelled out megabucks to secure the first ever NFL playoff game to run exclusively on a streaming platform, with the exception of broadcast TV coverage on the NBC affliates in Miami and Kansas City.

NBCUniversal reported Sunday that game viewership peaked at an average of 24.6 million in the game’s second quarter, from 9:15 p.m. 9:30 p.m. ET. The game that ended with a 26 7 Chiefs victory also had the benefit of a Taylor Swift appearance, as the superstar was on hand in frigid temperatures in Kansas City to cheer on the team of her boyfriend, Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce.

NBCUniversal asserted on Sunday that the game was “the biggest live streamed event in U.S. history” and that it “drove internet usage to a single day U.S. record,” according for some 30% of internet traffic during the roughly three hour duration of the game. More important, viewership of the game was up 6% from last year’s comparable Wild Card playoff game.

NBCUniversal also reported that Peacock’s edgy new comedy series “Ted,” inspired by the 2012 film of the same name, has become the streamer’s most watched original title since its Jan. 11 debut. The series featuring a foul mouthed talking teddy bear was heavily promoted on the Peacock platform and in promo spots during the game.

(Pictured: Taylor Swift cheers Kansas City Chiefs fans at the Jan. 13 Dolphins Chiefs Wild Card game.).