Netflix prepared well for its high-stakes NFL streaming debut on Christmas, and it paid off

• Netflix streamed NFL games for the first time on Christmas Day.
• Technical problems marred a high-profile boxing match last month, but Netflix learned lessons.
• Many social media users praised Netflix for a smooth broadcast after it beefed up capacity.

After fumbling a high-profile boxing match featuring Mike Tyson and Jake Paul last month that was marred by technical problems, many social media users praised Netflix for a smooth broadcast of its first-ever NFL games on Christmas Day.

Netflix, with more than 280 million subscribers worldwide, is the home of hit shows like “Squid Games” and “Stranger Things,” which have different technical requirements than massive live events.

Christmas marked the first time it has streamed America’s most popular sport, with the Kansas City Chiefs beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans followed, featuring a halftime performance by Beyoncé.

More than 60 million users tuned into last month’s boxing match, exceeding Netflix and internet service providers’ capacity.

Netflix’s stream of the event was beset by buffering, poor image quality, and audio problems after Netflix executives greatly underestimated the size of the audience and failed to beef up capacity, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“We were stressing our own technology, we were pushing every ISP in the world right to the limits of their own capacity, we were stressing the limits of the internet itself,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos explained at a conference this month.

It was an embarrassing misstep for Netflix, which is set to broadcast Christmas NFL games through 2026 and recently signed a contract to stream the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031.

For the Christmas NFL event, executives worked ahead of time with internet service providers like Charter’s Spectrum, Comcast’s Xfinity, and Verizon’s FiOS to increase capacity, the Journal reported.

The investment seems to have paid off.

However, not everyone was pleased. Some social media users complained about glitches, and others disliked being forced to subscribe to yet another streaming service to watch football.