The NFL's first-ever YouTube free stream was always going to draw a crowd. But maybe not quite the crowd some expected.
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Chiefs-Chargers pulled in 17.3 million viewers globally on Friday night, according to Variety's Jennifer Maas, via Pro Football Talk. Of that, 16.2 million were in the United States. That's a healthy number, especially compared to the 14.2 million who tuned into Peacock's Packers-Eagles stream in Week 1, wrote Mike Florio of PFT.
But here's the kicker. Peacock is a paid service. YouTube's stream was free. And Nielsen is now using a system that counts out-of-home viewers more accurately, which naturally inflates the total, Florio wrote. For comparison, last Christmas Netflix drew over 24 million viewers for Ravens-Texans and Chiefs-Steelers — both record-setting streams. Netflix, like Peacock, isn't free.
Which raises the question: should the Chiefs' global free YouTube showcase have done better?
It's possible the answer is simply fatigue, Florio suggests. The Chiefs have been everywhere the past two years — back-to-back Super Bowls, prime-time showcases, Taylor Swift in the suites. At some point, even Patrick Mahomes saturation might wear on casual viewers.
We'll know more soon. Kansas City faces the Eagles on Fox this Sunday in the marquee late-afternoon window. Then it's Chiefs-Giants on NBC in Week 3, Ravens-Chiefs on Fox in Week 4, Chiefs-Jaguars on Monday Night Football in Week 5, and Chiefs-Lions on Sunday Night Football in Week 6.
If the numbers dip again, maybe the league's most high-profile team has finally hit a wall.
