10th September 2025
September 10 – Last weekend, the NFL made history and sent a clear warning to traditional football broadcasters by granting YouTube exclusive rights to its Opening Night game.
The matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil, marked YouTube’s first-ever live broadcast of an NFL regular-season fixture. The result? Record-breaking viewership numbers.
As YouTube explained…”Our first-ever exclusive, global broadcast of an NFL game set a record for most concurrent viewers of a live stream on YouTube, drawing a global audience of over 17.3M average-minute-audience (AMA). This included 16.2M AMA in the U.S. (according to Nielsen) and 1.1M AMA outside of the U.S. (according to YouTube).”
Fans tuned in from more than 230 countries, highlighting not only the global appeal of the NFL but also YouTube’s transformation into a mainstream broadcaster.
This shift is reflected in the numbers. YouTube is now the biggest streaming video service in the U.S., creating a formidable rival to traditional TV for advertisers.
Ahead of the broadcast, YouTube partnered with Mr. Beast on an NFL-aligned promotion, weaving in other creators to amplify reach. The strategy not only expanded awareness of the game but also demonstrated how YouTube stars can drive engagement in ways linear broadcasters simply cannot.
For the NFL, this was a bold experiment that has paid off in a massive way. For YouTube, it was validation that the platform can deliver mass audiences, cultural impact, and commercial value simultaneously.
As more leagues consider new broadcast models, YouTube’s Opening Night success may well prove to be a turning point. You can be certain that every major league in Europe was taking note of the opportunity to open fresh avenues for brands and advertisers eager to tap into the platform’s global reach.
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