Football fans in the United States and abroad will be getting a special present from Netflix this year - the popular streaming service will air two National Football League games on Christmas Day.
Netflix announced its new agreement with the NFL on Wednesday, with a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The deal will extend to Christmas 2025 and 2026, with at least one holiday game broadcast each year.
"Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live - tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports, and more," Netflix Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria said in a press release.
"There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We're so excited that the NFL's Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix."
Netflix recently has received acclaim for its live comedy show "John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA" which Vulture described as a "strange T.V. miracle." During the same week, the streaming service also broadcast the roast of legendary quarterback Tom Brady, which received mixed reviews.
"We couldn't be more excited to be the first professional sports league to partner with Netflix to bring live games to fans around the world," Hans Schroeder, NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution, said in a press release.
"The NFL on Christmas has become a tradition and to partner with Netflix, a service whose biggest day of the year is typically this holiday, is the perfect combination to grow this event globally for NFL fans."
Though Netflix was once considered synonymous with streaming television, the platform has experienced setbacks in recent years. After cracking down on password-sharing, its overall number of subscriptions increased but shares plummeted by 20%, in 2023. Share price decreased again in April 2024, after the company announced it would no longer report subscriber numbers.
