This Christmas, Netflix featured two afternoon NFL games: the Dallas Cowboys against the Washington Commanders (1:00 PM ET) and the Detroit Lions versus the Minnesota Vikings (4:30 PM ET). In the evening, the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos was streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Throughout the afternoon, social media was rife with complaints from users regarding the Netflix broadcasts.
Common issues included continuous buffering, drastic fluctuations in picture quality, casting difficulties on Chromecast and other devices, problems with toggling or disabling captions, occasional muffled audio, and troubles starting the live stream on various apps or TVs. Downdetector reported about 500 user complaints during the early afternoon covering the Cowboys vs. Commanders game.
One frustrated viewer tweeted, “The only thing worse than the #NFL game on @netflix is the streaming service itself. I can’t remove the ads, and it keeps pausing mid-action to show the Netflix splash screen.”
Another fan added, “Netflix shouldn’t be streaming games if the picture is going to be this awful… it’s like I’m watching a Nintendo 64 game, smh.”
A third commenter noted, “Honestly, I’m relieved the UFC didn’t go to Netflix if this is the quality we’re getting. Watching any NFL game on Netflix feels like I’m viewing old eBaum’s World videos from the ’90s.”
Another user remarked, “#NFL on #Netflix presented so poorly. I’ve never seen such poor stream quality in quite some time.”
In addition to the technical problems, many viewers criticized the production choices, like annoying mid-game interviews and promotions that interrupted the flow of the game. Viewers found the overall presentation to be chaotic when compared to traditional broadcasters.
One viewer vented, “No one wants to hear an interview during an NFL game! Netflix, what are we even doing? Emmitt Smith is great, but this is too much.”
Another fan blasted the production team, stating, “Fire the team responsible for this! It’s a disaster. We don’t need to see interviews with players from 10-30 years ago during a tense divisional game.”
Netflix had signed a multi-season agreement to stream NFL games on Christmas Day, part of a larger three-year strategy, reportedly spending an estimated $150 million annually for these rights. Despite the chaos, this was their first full Christmas slate during which they managed to attract about 65 million viewers, setting streaming records for regular-season games according to both Nielsen and the NFL.
In the fast-paced world of live sports, which demand careful execution and attract viewers in real-time, this NFL streaming experiment serves as a testament to both the potential rewards and the logistics challenges that come with delivering high-stakes live events.
