Jan. 17, 2024
The recent Wild Card playoff match between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs garnered an average audience of around 23 million viewers, on the NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock. By: Dylan Low
NBCUniversal
offered a high amount of money to acquire the first-ever NFL playoff game to
screen exclusively on a streaming platform, except broadcast TV coverage
on NBC affiliates in Miami and Kansas City. NBCUniversal reported last Sunday
game viewership topped 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, which concluded with a 26-7 Chiefs victory, also was boosted by a Taylor Swift cameo, as the celebrity singer-superstar arrived in frigid temperatures at Kansas City to cheer on the team of her boyfriend, who was Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
NBCUniversal
claimed 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,” making up for
around 30% of internet traffic during the estimated three-hour duration of the
game. A more important factor is viewership was higher by 6% compared to last
year’s Wild Card playoff game.
Overall,
Peacock achieved its most-watched day in what NBCU noted as “audience usage,
engagement and time spent with a record 16.3 million concurrent devices”
watching the platform. Launched in 2020, Peacock has faced a difficult
challenge in gaining a reputation in the streaming universe. Comcast, which
owns NBCUniversal, looks to generate strong nationwide viewing of the service
that provides viewers both free and subscription-only content.
“From
NBC Sports and Peacock to the Comcast team, our entire company worked
seamlessly to plan for this game and executed flawlessly to deliver a streaming
experience with the NFL on a scale that’s never been done before. It’s a very
proud moment,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts stated.
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