San Francisco’s 49ers-Rams showdown at the Melbourne Cricket Ground delivered a landmark audience for the NFL, drawing 18.5 million U.S. viewers on Netflix and setting attendance and viewership marks in Australia.
Key takeaways
- The Netflix broadcast averaged 18.5 million viewers in the United States, with its high point reaching 21.3 million.
- The audience climbed to its peak during the 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET quarter-hour.
- The first regular-season NFL game staged in Australia attracted 21.7 million viewers worldwide.
- A crowd of 100,021 attended at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the seventh-largest regular-season attendance in league history.
- The matchup became the most-watched NFL game ever shown in Australia.
Netflix posts major prime-time streaming figures
The 49ers-Rams game ranked among the three biggest NFL Thursday prime-time streaming telecasts. It also produced an average audience of 4.0 million viewers ages 18-34, the strongest streaming delivery for a non-Christmas NFL regular-season game in that age group.
Netflix now owns the four highest-rated NFL regular-season games among viewers ages 18-34, including its Christmas Day broadcasts. The Melbourne game’s U.S. audience was measured through Nielsen Big Data + Panel.
Interest extended well beyond the United States. Fans in more than 200 countries and territories watched the game, helping push the global audience to 21.7 million for the league’s Australian regular-season debut.
Melbourne event generates record local turnout
The official crowd of 100,021 at the MCG placed the game seventh on the NFL’s all-time regular-season attendance list. The turnout also underlined the scale of the league’s first trip to Australia for a regular-season contest.
Online conversation was substantial as well. Netflix and NFL social accounts generated more than 340 social impressions and 14.5 million engagements around the 49ers-Rams matchup.
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49ers-Rams Melbourne NFL Game Draws 18.5 Million U.S. Viewers on Netflix
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Netflix’s 49ers-Rams game from Melbourne averaged 18.5 million U.S. viewers, reached 21.7 million globally and drew 100,021 fans at the MCG.
