The numbers are in for the NFL’s first-ever exclusive broadcast on YouTube. And it’s led to some serious questions about the platform, the international series, and the future of the league’s global expansion.
The Chiefs-Chargers game drew 17.3 million viewers overall on YouTube. 16.2 million of those viewers were from the United States and 1.1 million viewers were from a global audience.
Numbers never lie, except for when they do.
In the wake of the release, there has been much discussion and debate over what it actually means. While the game exceeded what Peacock drew for last year’s Friday night game in Brazil, the methodology for reporting numbers this year is different. And we’ve already seen larger football audiences this year compared to previous ones thanks to Nielsen changes. But even the YouTube numbers drew skepticism from rival networks over the accuracy and transparency of the data, with Friday’s game being measured with yet another separate method.
The other talking point is that the YouTube game is another step forward in the NFL’s continuing international expansion. We are well on our way to the league offering up a rights package built around a full season-long schedule of global contests. The NFL is now playing games in five different countries this year – Brazil, England, Ireland, Germany, and Spain. Next year, it will expand to the other side of the globe in Australia.
With just 1.1 million people around the world tuning in out of the global 8.1 billion population, it’s not exactly a great sign for the NFL’s Hank Scorpio like dreams of world domination. Puck’s sports media savant John Ourand felt the number came in far below expectations.
The number does have plenty of caveats. Most of the NFL’s global expansion has been towards Europe. That’s where the NFL has spent the vast majority of its time internationally as it has played for years in England and is now expanding to the rest of the continent. The 8 p.m. ET kickoff time was a nightmare for our friends across the pond.
Chiefs-Chargers kicked off at 2 a.m. in Madrid and Berlin and 1 a.m. in London. That is brutal for European NFL fans and expecting millions to tune in would be unrealistic. The game would have gotten a much more favorable kickoff time in Melbourne with a Big Noon Saturday timeslot, but the NFL’s expansion efforts down under are just beginning.
So in some respects, maybe 1.1 million isn’t a bad number considering the hottest NFL markets overseas would have been largely excluded. But this is where the games of expectations and reality don’t often match up well.
Given YouTube’s strength as a global video platform, 1.1 million people should have been able to stumble upon the game by accident. It’s not like nobody lives in the Western Hemisphere without access to the internet. There were a ton of international markets of interest to the NFL that would have had a prime viewing opportunity in this game, and yet it was clear that the masses did not tune in for one reason or another.
When the NFL entered into this partnership with the streaming giant, it certainly had to feel that YouTube offered the straightest and furthest-reaching path to continue their NFL expansion. And that’s not to speak of the game broadcast itself, which leaned way too far into gimmicks and self-promotion.
So what happened? Did fans worldwide not get the memo about the YouTube game? Was it too hard to find? Or is it representative of the NFL’s global expansion push struggling outside of Europe? The answers to those questions won’t be readily available for years to come with just one data point at our disposal. But it might just give the NFL pause to stop and think about what their best next step is as they continue to try to take over the world.
About Matt Yoder