NFL Wild Card Game Crushes Ratings Records: Prime Video’s Biggest Audience Ever Revealed!

Prime Video Hits Its Largest NFL Audience Ever

Amazon’s Prime Video drew its biggest NFL audience to date with a wild card playoff game — although it didn’t quite match past streaming-exclusive matchups. As a whole, the opening weekend of the playoffs is trending down some from last season.

The Baltimore Ravens’ 28-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in primetime Saturday averaged 22.07 million viewers for Prime Video, according to Nielsen. That figure is easily the biggest audience ever for an NFL game on the platform, topping a Dec. 5 matchup between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers (17.29 million) by almost 5 million viewers.

The audience peaked at 9 p.m. ET with 24.66 million viewers, the largest concurrent audience ever on Prime Video in the United States. The game as a whole, however, fell a little shy of last year’s streaming-exclusive playoff matchup on Peacock, which averaged 22.86 million viewers in the same Saturday night window.

Netflix’s Christmas games earlier this season each topped 24 million viewers. Fox had the biggest audience for the wild card round, bringing in 35.89 million viewers for its broadcast of the Philadelphia Eagles’ win over the Packers late Sunday afternoon. The game was down about 11 percent from the same window last year (40.16 million for the Packers and Dallas Cowboys, also on Fox).

In primetime Sunday, NBC Sports averaged 29 million viewers (26.2 on the broadcast network and 2.8 million on streaming) for the Washington Commanders’ last-second win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It too was down from last year, falling by 19 percent from 35.8 million viewers.

Figures for CBS’ two wild card games, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and ABC and ESPN’s Monday night contest weren’t available as of publication time. This story will be updated when they arrive.

Competition and Trends

What does this mean for Prime Video and NFL streaming? How does this compare to other streaming services like Netflix? What are the implications for the NFL’s broadcast deals and streaming strategies?

Mr. & Mrs. Smith: A New Take on the Classic

The first teaser for Mr. & Mrs. Smith from Amazon’s Prime Video showcases the beginnings of a relationship between its two lead characters — and a lot of bullets. The series, loosely based on the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has Donald Glover and Maya Erskine playing the two title characters.

The show is something of an inverse of the movie: Rather than a married couple discovering each other’s real job as a rival assassin, Glover and Erskine will play two people recruited for a spy agency and told to pose as a couple.

As the show’s official description puts it, “Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other.”

The teaser showcases the relationship developing in between shots of gunfights, explosions and chase scenes. It also gives glimpses of some of the show’s stacked guest cast, which features Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, Úrsula Corberó, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Parker Posey and Wagner Moura.

Glover and Francesca Sloane, who worked together on Atlanta, are co-creators and executive producers of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with Sloane (whose credits also include Fargo and Hulu’s The First) serving as showrunner. All eight episodes of the season are scheduled to premiere Feb. 2 on Prime Video.

Watch the teaser below.

Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days

Big Bird has been my feathered friend for 50 years. Sure, we don’t see each other as much as I’d like, but when we do get together, it’s nice to have someone I can look straight in the eyes without bending my neck.

We first met in 1969, Sesame Street’s inaugural year, when I was 22, and I dropped by a few times over the years. Once, Big Bird and I did a segment on subtraction. Another time I got to sing the theme song with Big Bird, Elmo and the Count.

So, yeah, I do know how to get to Sesame Street. [Watch one of his appearances here.] More important than my personal friendship with Big Bird, Sesame Street has played an even bigger role in educating my children and in shaping the moral character of American culture.

Thank goodness. For 50 years, the cozy little neighborhood has taught us much more than numbers and words. While we can count on Count von Count to give us the good word on numbers, the other characters preach the gospel of compassion, kindness and fairness.

They want us to be not only good counters and good spellers, but also good neighbors. I always knew that when my children watched the interactions of the humans and Muppets — my oldest daughter, Habiba, was able to turn on the television and change the channels to Sesame Street before she could even talk — whatever conflicts they had would be resolved from a place of respect and appreciation rather than arrogance or self-righteousness.

The street and its residents are a brightly colored community that embodies the best teachings of most religions, but without the hard seats and guilt. And with a lot more laughter and silliness.

The influence of Sesame Street can be seen reflected in the most unlikely places — like, for instance, the popularity of the English TV show The Great British Bake Off. That modest series featuring a group of amateur bakers competing against one another shocked experts when it became one of the biggest ratings hits not only in England but also in the U.S.

Even more surprising was that it brought in more younger viewers (16-to-34-year-olds) than any other show. No violence. No nudity. No sex. Just a bunch of sweet, supportive people passionate about baking.

When they are eliminated from the show, they don’t complain that the judges made a mistake. They nod agreement and say, “Oh, yes, I definitely deserve to go.” Not because they are weak or lack confidence, but because they are kind and lack self-importance.

They are the grown-up versions of the kids who skipped down Sesame Street, who tear up when Elmo is sad, who smile when Cookie Monster shares. They show a grace and maturity that is more addicting to us viewers than the sugary confections they are baking.

I am so glad that I was able to visit the Shangri-la that is Sesame Street. Being immortalized on that street is even better than having a star on Hollywood Boulevard because it means I’ve contributed in some small way to furthering the ideals that make kids happier adults.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a THR contributor and NBA Hall of Famer. Read more about Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days on ‘Sesame Street’: Behind the Scenes of TV’s Most Influential Show Ever Where ‘Sesame Street’ Gets Its Funding — and How It Nearly Went Broke Childhood Heroes or Poor Role Models? Meet the Muppets Evicted From ‘Sesame Street’ ‘Sesame Street’ Movie’s Writer-Director Reveals Plot Details ‘Sesame Street’: Meet the New Puppeteer Inside Big Bird This story first appeared in the Feb. 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.