Hated that an NFL wild-card game this past weekend was exclusive to Peacock? Well, based on the stellar viewership numbers, more just-on-streaming NFL playoff matchups will be coming our way, like it or not.
According to Peacock, Sunday’s chilly AFC playoff contest between the Kansas Chity Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins was a massive success, averaging about 23 million viewers and peaking at a whopping 25 million during the second quarter.
Those figures made the Chiefs-Dolphins game the most-streamed live event in U.S. history, and it also marked the “largest Internet event ever,” Peacock claimed, gobbling up an eye-popping 30 percent of all internet traffic while the game was in progress.
Of course, Peacock managed to snag those numbers by being the only way that NFL viewers could watch the game, a fact that drew the ire of countless football fans and at least one member of Congress.
Sunday’s AFC wild-card game between the Chiefs and the Dolphins (you’ll be back, Miami) marked the first time the NFL granted the exclusive rights to a playoff game to a streaming service.
All previous NFL playoff games had been broadcast nationally for free, save for a single playoff game that ESPN aired back in 2015.
That made the NFL post-season one of the best times for football fans to follow their favorite teams without worrying about out-of-market games, blackouts, or whether a particular game would only be on basic cable or streaming on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football.
But this year, NFL fans had to cough up $5.99 for a month’s subscription to Peacock to catch the AFC wild-card contest.
The streaming-only Peacock playoff game even drew attention in Congress, with Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) slamming the NFL for “rip[ping] off fans” who were “forced to choose between signing up for yet another expensive streaming service or missing out on a major playoff game.”
The NFL’s deal with Peacock for the streaming rights of the playoff game was just for a single year, CBS Sports notes.
That said, given the number of viewers who tuned in—and paid up—to watch the game, it seems likely that there will be more streaming-only NFL playoff games in the years to come.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.