With the fall football season only two months away, a major regulatory battle with far-reaching implications for the future of high-profile sports and the National Football League on TV is already well underway.

In what could be considered either a regulatory Hail Mary or a politically savvy power play to strengthen their negotiating position in upcoming NFL talks, broadcasters are pushing for legislative and regulatory changes that aim to reverse the ongoing shift of NFL rights from broadcast to streaming platforms.

“Games from the four major professional leagues are now spread across Amazon Prime [Video], Netflix, YouTube TV and Apple TV,” National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt told a House subcommittee in June. “Fans increasingly need multiple paid subscriptions to watch their favorite teams, and survey after survey shows fans are confused and frustrated. Some estimates suggest that accessing every NFL game over the course of a season would cost a consumer well over $1,000.”

Last Rallying Cry
How Congress or regulators might change current rules to address those complaints or how well any of the proposed changes might weather court challenges remains open to question. But there is little doubt that a powerful coalition of politicians, regulators and people who rarely agree on anything—President Donald Trump, Congressional Democrats and Republicans, the Federal Communications Commission, the Justice Department and long-suffering fans—are upset with the current system.

With the president and members of Congress openly criticizing the NFL, the FCC’s Media Bureau launched a public inquiry in March seeking public comments on how the changing broadcast and sports-rights landscape is impacting consumers. The DOJ followed in April with an antitrust probe of the league.

In a March interview on Fox News Channel, FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the experience of watching sports “has become frustrating over the last several years…It’s more complex; it’s more costly.”

“We’re all for sports leagues getting fair-market value for their product, but right now, they’re benefiting from a very unique antitrust exemption to pool their bargaining together,” he added. “[W]e’re at a tipping point where these leagues can push it so far [in] putting games behind paywalls that they undermine their ability to claim that anti­trust exemption.”

The NFL has so far been keeping a low profile on the controversy. Commissioner Roger Goodell declined to appear in June beside LeGeyt and other witnesses testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust, which is probing the issue.

In a private meeting with FCC staffers in April, NFL executives argued that “100% of NFL games have aired on broadcast television in the home markets of the competing teams” and that their contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC account for “more than 87% of all NFL games, a number that has varied little in the past two decades,” according to a letter describing the meeting.

In that letter, the NFL also insisted that ending antitrust exemption would mean “higher costs and confusion,” calling its current media distribution policy “good for our fans” and “for local broadcasters.”

Monopoly Money
While much of the consumer debate revolves around the larger issue of sports rights shifting to streaming TV platforms, many of the policy issues and recommendations stem from the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act. One of its key provisions gave the NFL,
Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League an antitrust exemption when negotiating broadcast rights. That exemption allows the leagues to negotiate deals on behalf of individual teams.

Such exemptions were not unprecedented. Nearly 40 years earlier, a 1922 Supreme Court decision gave MLB an antitrust exemption, and there is little doubt that the NFL’s ability to negotiate deals simplified the process of acquiring broadcast rights, which helped the sport and the networks. In 2025, 89 of the top 100 TV programs in the U.S. were NFL games, according to Nielsen.

Critics, however, argue that much has changed since the SBA was passed. In 1960, TV ad revenue (all of which went to broadcasters) totaled only $1.6 billion; this year, linear TV advertising for broadcast and cable is expected to hit $48 billion, a 2,900% increase, and connected TV ad revenues—which primarily go to streaming platforms—will total another $36.9 billion, according to ad agency Media Architects.

Data on the sports business of the late 1950s and early 1960s isn’t very reliable and estimates can vary widely, but the average NFL salary in 1960 was probably $12,000 to $15,000, and total NFL revenues were believed to be around $1 million, mostly from ticket sales. The league’s first post-SBA network deal with CBS in 1962 produced a massive increase in revenue but brought in only about $4.65 million a year, according to the Associated Press. That is a tiny fraction of the $111 billion in revenue produced by the NFL’s current TV contracts, which run through 2033.

Legislative Action Required
With the NFL pushing to extract many more billions from media outlets by renegotiating its current long-term deals, the league’s wealth has attracted increased political scrutiny. In the June House hearings examining potential changes to the SBA, Republicans and Democrats were united in their concerns about the NFL’s distribution strategy that has shifted more games to streaming.

During the hearing, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez expressed serious concerns about how the NFL has sold its media rights and handled its distribution strategy. “The economics of how fans actually watch have shifted in ways that deserve serious attention,” she said, praising the FCC’s decision to probe broadcast sports rights. “For a family trying to follow their team through a full season, the cost of piecing together access across multiple platforms adds up quickly.”

But Gomez, a Democrat, also cautioned the FCC has limited authority to change the current system. “The commission can gather information, raise concerns and call out fouls where it sees them, but any meaningful update to the Sports Broadcasting Act will ultimately require legislative action,” she said.

For its part, the NAB doesn’t want to abolish the antitrust exemptions in the SBA, given the confusion and difficulties that would result in having to negotiate separate deals with all the teams.

“NAB is not asking to eliminate the Sports Broadcasting Act,” LeGeyt told Congress in June. “But this Committee should reaffirm that the SBA applies only to league-wide negotiations with media companies that will distribute games through broadcast television, not lock games behind streaming paywalls.”

How that could work in terms of the media business or the legal system isn’t clear. The major media companies that own the Big Four broadcast networks and ESPN—The Walt Disney Co., Comcast, Fox Corp. and Paramount Global—don’t just have the biggest NFL deals; they also have large streaming subscription services that have bought exclusive rights to stream NFL games in recent years. If approved, Fox’s proposed $22 billion acquisition of Roku in June would allow it to move even more games to streaming.

Nor is it clear how the courts will react to legislation that favors one medium (broadcast) or another (streaming). And if the antitrust exemption is changed, the alternative of having teams negotiating deals rather than leagues could easily fragment rights and cause more confusion than the current system.

Either way, as the NFL pushes to renegotiate its current contracts, expect this regulatory battle to last well into 2027 and beyond.

WASHINGTON—In the runup to June 10 hearings to examine the antitrust exemptions currently enjoyed by the NFL and other major professional sports, the House Judiciary Committee has released an interim staff report titled “The Sports Broadcasting Act: A Special-Interest Antitrust Exemption Gone Awry” blasting the league’s current strategy for selling media rights.

The NFL has stretched an antitrust exemption created in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 beyond its original purpose to the detriment of U.S. consumers, the report argues, through a series of deals with streaming companies that have enriched the league and harmed TV viewers.

“The results shown in the data suggest that the NFL's current model of placing games behind a paywall, especially through its Sunday Ticket offering, is harming consumers by forcing them to pay for a large package of NFL games when many consumers only want to see their favorite team's games,” the committee found. “The existence of the data also suggests that the NFL has misstated the nature of its Sunday Ticket product.”

The report comes at a time when the NFL is under increasing political and regulatory pressure from legislators and regulators. President Donald Trump, members of Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, which has opened a probe into the current market for sports rights, have all complained that the shift of major sports rights from free broadcast to streaming platforms have made it increasingly costly and difficult for fans to follow their favorite teams.

In August 2025, the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust opened an investigation into the professional sports leagues’ broadcasting practices, which the SBA governs. The SBA provides the leagues with an antitrust exemption so they can negotiate rights deals on behalf of all their teams.

As part of this oversight, the Committee says it is examining whether anticompetitive broadcasting conduct by the NFL has harmed American football consumers and undermined the letter and spirit of the antitrust laws and the SBA.

The NFL counters that 100% of its “local market games” are available over the air for free and 87% of games have “primary distribution’ on broadcast television. In meetings with the FCC, league officials have argued the NFL offers “the most fan- and broadcaster-friendly [model] in the entire sports and entertainment industry.”

“The NFL’s claim of a fan-friendly distribution model defies the reality experienced by millions of NFL fans,” the committee found. “The NFL's own data show that the average NFL game reaches only 39% of U.S. households. In 2016, broadcasters aired 113 of the NFL’s 256 regular-season games in fewer than 20 percent of U.S. households. When the NFL claims that 87% of games receive “primary distribution” on broadcast television, it means only that a broadcast station carries those games somewhere in the country—not that most fans can watch them.”

Additionally, survey data obtained by the committee suggested the NFL's Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package is not as consumer-friendly as the league claims. The report argues that:

• Despite the NFL's claims, Sunday Ticket is not just a product for the avid fan of NFL football in general, but a product bought mainly by fans attempting to watch their favorite team who are stuck with no other option.
• According to data from former Sunday Ticket subscribers, when asked, “Why did you sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket?” over 70% of respondents answered that they subscribed to “watch my favorite team, which is out of market.“
• When asked why they canceled their Sunday Ticket subscription, 70% of respondents said the package is too expensive.

The Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will convene a hearing about the SBA on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at 10 a.m.

Read the full report here.

Read the full appendix here.

Amid growing pressure from the White House, Congress, the Federal Communications Commissions and the Department of Justice over the cost of watching NFL games, the league continues to defend the current market for major sports rights, saying “we have the most fan-friendly model there is of any sport...as far as distribution."

That defense was made by Hans Schroeder. executive vice president and chief operating officer of the NFL during a call with media outlets regarding the league’s 2026-27 schedule, which includes an expanded Netflix deal to stream five games.

The comments were made at a time when the NFL is facing more regulatory and political pressure than it has seen in decades. Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission opened an inquiry into broadcast sports rights following criticism of the NFL by FCC Chair Brendan Carr regarding the cost and complexity of finding and watching NFL games.

President Trump has also raised similar complaints and in April of 2026 the Department of Justice has opened a probe into the league, which has an exemption from anti-trust rules that allows it to negotiate deals with broadcasters and other outlets.

Rising political and regulatory pressure comes at a important juncture for the league. It recently reopened negotiations with broadcasters over its existing deals in the hopes of raising billions of dollars in revenue.

In the May 15 call with reporters, Schroeder stressed that most games remain on broadcast, with about 87% airing on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, but that in an era of cord cutting the league also wanted to reach fans on widely distributed platforms like Netflix.

During the call, NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller also expressed doubts about the criticism the league has faced from the NAB and broadcasters in filings with the FCC.

“That’s a little bit odd given the relationship that we’ve had with the broadcasters and the fact that we continue to keep all of our games on broadcast television,” Miller said. “Heck, they inducted the NFL into the NAB Hall of Fame a couple of years ago. So, one would have thought that that relationship was good.”

Those May 15 remarks echoed much more extensive comments the league made to the FCC in April defending its media rights strategy after the regulator opened up a probe into the cost of major sports rights.

During an April meeting with FCC staff, NFL told the FCC that its current policy of distributing media rights “benefits fans and local broadcasters in many ways” and that attempts to end league’s antitrust exemption would mean “higher costs and confusion” for consumers.

“For many years, 100% of NFL games have aired on broadcast television in the home markets of the competing teams,” the NFL said in an April letter to the FCC describing the meeting. That letter also included an extensive slide deck relating to NFL media rights.

“Most of those games are distributed to a significantly broader geographic area, if not nationally," the letter continued. "Our contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC account for the distribution of more than 87% of all NFL games, a number that has varied little in the past two decades. This distribution model is good for our fans, for local television broadcasters, for our 32 clubs in small and large markets alike, and for the competitiveness of the game itself. The success of our fan- and broadcast-friendly strategy is evident as the 2025 season was the most viewed since 1989 and one of the most competitive in League history.”

As the political debate heats up over sports rights shifting to streaming services like Netflix, analysts at LightShed Partners have released data showing that streaming has actually lowered the cost of accessing all the games on NFL by breaking up traditionally costly pay TV bundles into more affordable packages.

"Yes, NFL games are now spread across more services than ever," Richard Greenfield, Brandon Ross and Mark Kelley at LightShed Partners argue. "But streaming competition has splintered the old cable bundle, giving consumers the ability to pay only for what they want. The $1,000-to-watch-the-NFL figure being thrown around by President Trump, regulators, and members of Congress is not grounded in reality."

Their data, shown below, indicates that fans can “watch every NFL game this season, a total of 272 games, for as little as ~$600, or under $3 per game. Strip out Sunday Ticket and you can catch all national matchups plus your local games for $217 with an antenna, or under $400 entirely via a la carte streaming,” they argue.

Their analysis shows that all the games could be watched on an a la carte bundle of streaming services for about $618, or accessed on some of the skinnier bundles available from a streaming pay TV service (vMPVD) like YouTube TV or DirecTV for $806.

All of those options are much cheaper than the traditional pay TV bundles costing about $1005 on Charter's Spectrum.

LightShed partners released their analysis at a time when President Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr complained about the high cost of streaming NFL games and the FCC has opened a probe into major sports rights.

In response to the FCC's request for comments on the issue, the NAB and a number of major broadcasters have complained about the complexity high cost of streaming sports on streaming services.

In meetings with FCC staff, the NFL has attempted to rebut those views by arguing that its current policy of distributing media rights “benefits fans and local broadcasters in many ways” and that attempts to end league’s antitrust exemption would mean “higher costs and confusion” for consumers.

"To be fair, watching the NFL is more complicated than it used to be, as no single service has everything," the analysts concluded. "But consumers now have real choice, and for those willing to navigate multiple apps, the savings are meaningful. It is also worth remembering that before 2023, the ONLY way to watch every NFL game was DirecTV with a satellite dish bolted to your house, unless you could prove one would not work at your location. Streaming has been unambiguously pro-consumer."

LOS ANGELES—CBS LA has concluded a new multi-year agreement with the Los Angeles Rams that will make it the NFL team’s official hometown television partner in the Southern California market and provide it with exclusive rights to air preseason games and other programming.

More specifically, the agreement brings exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games to CBS LA, along with a slate of weekly year-round programming, including a coaches show featuring head coach Sean McVay and original Rams content available exclusively across CBS LA platforms.

In addition to game coverage and weekly shows, the partnership also establishes a joint year-round collaboration focused on community initiatives serving Southern California.

“With nearly 90 hours of news and sports programming every week, CBS LA is uniquely positioned to deliver more Rams coverage than any other media outlet in the market,” said Tim Wieland, regional president and general manager of CBS LA and CBS Colorado. “This partnership is about serving fans, celebrating Los Angeles and extending our shared commitment to the community. We’re proud to once again be the Home of the Rams.”

The agreement marks a return for the Rams to CBS LA.

“CBS LA partnered with us in 2016 when we returned to Los Angeles and helped reintroduce our organization to this city,” said Los Angeles Rams president Kevin Demoff. “We are thrilled to once again team up with CBS LA to bring fans closer to Rams football through our preseason games and exclusive content year-round. This partnership will enable us to deepen our connection with Angelenos through CBS’ dynamic programming as well as shared efforts that will make an impact on the community we all call home.”

Netflix has announced a major expansion of its NFL coverage in 2026 and beyond, with additional games, holidays, rivalries, and more starting in Week 1 and continuing through Super Bowl week.

Under the expanded Netflix and the NFL’s four-year deal that runs through the 2029-2030 season, Netflix offer five games, beginning with the first regular season game live from Australia featuring the Los Angeles Rams vs. the San Francisco 49ers. Then it will stream its first Thanksgiving Eve matchup (the Green Bay Packers vs. the Los Angeles Rams), two games on Christmas Day and a game in Week 18 during the 2026-2027 season.

Netflix will also rights to stream the NFL Honors during Super Bowl week in 2027.

The news continues an ongoing shift of games to streaming that has prompted some calls from the Federal Communications Commission, President Trump, Congress and broadcasters to protect consumer free access to games.

Netflix’s NFL games in 2026 will be available in over 200 countries around the world. These games will also be available on local, over-the-air broadcast television in the respective team markets.

In addition to the on-field action, Netflix will also stream the NFL Honors globally, showcasing the league’s annual awards presentation the week of the Super Bowl.

During its 2026 Upfronts presentation, Netflix also announced that starting in 2027, Netflix’s ads plan will expand to 15 new countries, including Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand, giving members more affordable plan options and advertisers more opportunities to reach our audience.

Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s President of Advertising said, “we’ve got cutting-edge technology, we’ve got great entertainment across shows, movies, podcasts, and live events, and we’ve got the most engaged and attentive audience. We’ve proven we’re effective, and now we’re expanding ads to more places and we’re ready to compete with anyone.”

Netflix with ads now reaches more than 250 million global monthly active viewers. These viewers are deeply engaged: over 80% of ads members are actively watching every week.

The presentation Netflix also announced a number of improvements to its ad-technologies.

It is expanding programmatic capabilities to Pause Ads and Live using our Dynamic Ad Insertion technology. Clients can now buy both via their preferred DSP partner, making campaigns even more targeted and personalized. These will be available this summer in the US and Canada, and other countries by the end of this year.

In addition, it is enabling programmatic audience targeting for all ad-supported countries on Amazon DSP by June 1 and Yahoo DSP in the months to follow. And, it is expanding optimization tools for advertisers, including the ability to maximize conversions and outcomes to deliver the best possible results for Netflix buys.

It also stressed that it continues to expand its AI-capabilities for advertisers.

The streamer said it is now offering AI-driven tooling to develop and optimize media plans based on brands’ objectives, and are testing AI agents to manage, optimize, and purchase ads on Netflix.

In addition, it is leveraging AI to adapt existing advertiser assets so they look great in different canvases across the service – like vertical video ads or pause ads.

Last year, Netflix began using AI to marry advertiser ad creative with the shows, films, and worlds that are popular with its subscribers. It recently tested those capabilities with DoorDash, Target, and TurboTax, and have significantly improved the quality and execution. It is now bringing this capability to every ad-supported region by the end of the year.

A new note to investors from financial analysts at LightShed Partners poses the controversial question of whether broadcast networks should scrap entertainment programming given the long-term declines for non-sports programming and the fact that NFL games now dominate the list of most popular programming.

Citing data from the NFL’s recent meeting with the Federal Communications Commission, analysts Richard Greenfield, Brandon Ross and Mark Kelley write that it has become apparent “how irrelevant all non-sports programming is to broadcast TV viewership…Over the past 20 years non-sports broadcast primetime viewership is down over 75%, while NFL regular season viewership is up over 30% over the same period. Even more stunning is that NFL viewership on CBS and NBC reached all-time highs last season, despite all the cord-cutting that has shrunk the reach of broadcast TV.”

“The obvious question is why broadcast networks bother investing in general entertainment programming,” they wrote. “Given that general entertainment programming is not driving retransmission consent fees, if any of these forms of programming cannot cover their production costs via advertising and streaming syndication revenues, should they exist at all? It is beyond obvious that broadcast networks and stations drive retrans fees of $5/sub/month and growing from NFL programming alone; no other programming matters.”

The NFL also clearly understands its value and is in the process of renegotiating higher rights fees. Those higher licensing fees could mean that “broadcast networks may be forced to cut back on general entertainment programming that does not cover its production costs, reduce the cost of programming or shift even more of that content to streaming platforms (AI should help with this).”

This also raises the question of “why Disney needs to be in the linear TV business as part of our long-term strategic questions for management.”

More on this is available here and here.

WASHINGTON—Faced with increased pressure from Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the ongoing shift of major sports rights to streaming, the NFL has told the FCC that its current policy of distributing media rights “benefits fans and local broadcasters in many ways” and that attempts to end league’s antitrust exemption would mean “higher costs and confusion” for consumers.

During an April 17 meeting with Greg Watson (Chief of Staff to Chairman Carr), Allison Howell (Attorney Advisor to Chairman Carr), and Evan Morris (Deputy Bureau Chief of the Media Bureau), the NFL presented an extensive slide deck showing that most games continue to be available to broadcasters even though major streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix have acquired packages of games in recent years.

“For many years, 100% of NFL games have aired on broadcast television in the home markets of the competing teams,” the NFL said in a letter to the FCC describing the meeting. “Most of those games are distributed to a significantly broader geographic area, if not nationally. Our contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC account for the distribution of more than 87% of all NFL games, a number that has varied little in the past two decades. This distribution model is good for our fans, for local television broadcasters, for our 32 clubs in small and large markets alike, and for the competitiveness of the game itself. The success of our fan- and broadcast-friendly strategy is evident as the 2025 season was the most viewed since 1989 and one of the most competitive in League history.”

The NFL's comments come in response to an FCC Public Notice seeking comments on the current state of sports rights and the ongoing shift of rights to streaming services.

In response the NAB and other broadcasters have suggested that Congress and the FCC need to act to preserve free access to games and that the ongoing shift of games to streaming services had raised costs and created a great deal of confusion for consumers.

“In 2025, NFL games appeared on 10 different paywalled platforms, and the cost of the subscriptions necessary to watch every NFL game approached $1,500,” associations representing the big four network affiliates noted in their comments to the FCC. “These developments threaten to get worse because streaming platforms owned by Google/Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and the like have nearly limitless budgets and face no regulations that would check their growth. Indeed, they are already increasingly outbidding Big 4 Networks for major sports rights and cutting local broadcasting out of the picture entirely.”

To address that problem, both the NAB and others have suggested that the antitrust exemption given to the NFL and other major leagues should be reexamined. That antitrust exemption allows the NFL, NBA, and MLB to negotiate deals for all the teams in the league.

If that exemption was removed the NFL said that it would mean higher costs and more confusion for consumers trying to find the games because it would produce a situation where 32 teams negotiate their own deals with dozens of potential outlets. This would create “32x the fractured media landscape” and “higher consumer costs”

In interviews and posts, FCC Chair Brendan Carr has complained that watching sports “has become frustrating over the last several years."

In a March interview with Fox News Carr said, “It's more complex, it's more costly. You effectively have to have a computer science degree to decipher this. As you noted, people have to sign up for Netflix and Hulu and YouTube and Google. It's very, very difficult these days, but historically, broadcast TV and sports leagues have had a great and mutually beneficial relationship."

“We’re at a point now where I think some of these leagues are at a tipping point where they're going to push this issue so far and start to lose their antitrust exemption,” he added. “We’re all for sports leagues getting fair market value for their product, but right now, they're benefiting from a very unique antitrust exemption to pool their bargaining together, but...we're at a tipping point where these leagues can push it so far putting games behind paywalls that they undermine their ability to claim that antitrust exemption.”

Efforts to regulate sports rights are also ramping up in Washington. Front Office Sports reports that the FCC probe into the issue is one of at least four major legislative and regulatory efforts seeking to address the issue.

The complete NFL presentation and slide deck that was given to the FCC can be found here.

NEW YORK—EverPass Media has reached an expanded commercial distribution agreement with Netflix that includes distribution of future live sports events to commercial establishments in the United States.

The first event under the expanded deal is the Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov matchup, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. The fight is available to stream globally on Netflix. Fans watching in U.S. commercial establishments can catch the event exclusively via the EverPass platform. The fight will come standard for all new and existing EverPass streaming customers through the “EverPass Core” package.

“Expanding our relationship with Netflix – following our successful partnership to bring the NFL Christmas Day games to audiences in bars and restaurants nationwide – marks another significant step forward for EverPass and the commercial marketplace,” said Alex Kaplan, CEO of EverPass Media. “Our ability to secure commercial distribution rights for tentpole sports events and must-see matchups reinforces the value of our platform by ensuring our customers can consistently deliver in-demand content. We’re pleased to offer the Fury vs. Makhmudov bout to streaming customers, providing reliable, seamless access to the events that drive traffic and engagement.”

EverPass was founded in 2023 in partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and 32 Equity, the strategic investment arm of the National Football League. TKO Group Holdings, parent company of UFC and WWE, joined as an investor in 2024.

EverPass works with rightsholders and distributors to deliver sports and entertainment programming for commercial businesses. EverPass’ library of premium content includes NFL Sunday Ticket; Peacock Sports Pass (Premier League, Big Ten football and basketball); Prime Video (Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, NWSL, NASCAR); ESPN+ (College football and basketball, NHL, PGA TOUR and more), Apple TV (MLS, F1, “Friday Night Baseball”), Paramount+ (UEFA Champions League) and more.

More information is available here: https://everpass.com/.

WASHINGTON—The NAB has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission outlining a host of problems that have been created by the shift of sports rights from free broadcasts to subscription-based streaming services.

The filing also outlined a number of measures, including ending station ownership caps and supporting the NextGen TV transition, that would improve access to free sports programming.

“From the viewer’s standpoint, there is no question that a model that once served both sports leagues and viewers is now underserving the average fan,” the NAB complained in the March 27 comments. “Global streaming behemoths like Amazon Prime, Alphabet (Google/YouTube), Apple, and Netflix, able to use live sports programming as a loss leader, have restricted access to sports programming using multiple paywalls, effectively forcing fans to use Gantt [product management] charts to locate their favorite team on television while being forced to subscribe to multiple services to do so. Watching televised sports has morphed from being an experience that bound us together to a maddening one that hurts the entire video ecosystem.”

To address that problem, the NAB urged the FCC to: reexamine antitrust exemptions that allow major professional sports leagues like the NFL to collectively negotiate media rights; end station ownership caps that make it harder for broadcasters to compete; and enact regulations that would speed the transition to the new broadcast standard NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 that offers much better visual and audio for sports programming.

The NAB made those proposals at a time when some studies have found viewers would need to pay upwards of $2,500 and subscribe to multiple apps to be able to follow their favorite teams.

In response to that issue, FCC Chair Brendan Carr has already warned the NFL and other major professional sports leagues that they are in danger of losing their antitrust exemptions. Without those exemptions, teams would be subject to normal antitrust rules and would have to negotiate deals themselves.

“Since the decline of cable RSNs starting in 2023, some larger broadcast TV station groups have acquired rights, especially local rights, to air some live sports, including some MLB, NHL, NBA, WNBA, and NWSL games, to the benefit of local viewers,” the filing notes. “But broadcasters, prevented by outdated ownership rules from achieving national reach and greater local scale, cannot effectively compete with unregulated platforms for very costly live sports programming.”

The NAB also stressed that “One of the most impactful actions the Commission can take to help broadcast TV stations better compete for premium live sports content is to modernize its rules supporting the transition to the ATSC 3.0 standard. As the Commission has recognized, the ATSC 3.0 standard is poised to deliver substantial benefits to viewers across the country. Relevant to live sports, the ATSC 3.0 standard delivers sharper picture quality, richer and more immersive audio, enhanced accessibility features and interactive applications that promote viewer engagement with live sports programming – all for free over-the-air.”

While a number of broadcasters have already launched 3.0 signals offering better quality broadcasts, the NAB warned that the FCC needs to require all new sets to be ATSC 3.0 capable and that the regulator needs to set a firm cut off the ATSC 1.0 broadcasts. “A sunset date is a critical focal point that will align all ecosystem parties to make concrete plans to adopt the standard; without it, the transition could sputter and stall.”

“Live sports and broadcast TV have long gone hand in hand, with each strengthening the other,” the filing concluded. “That relationship has not only benefited both parties, it has also served the public well by bringing communities together and helping support local news and other programming on broadcast TV. But that is starting to change. More premium live sports are moving behind paywalls, and that shift is eroding longstanding public benefits. Big Tech platforms and global pureplay streamers with tens of billions of dollars of revenue to spend are not focused on strengthening local communities, but on selling products and adding subscribers. That is why policymakers are right to take a close look at this changing marketplace, and why the Commission can and should take concrete steps now to begin addressing the problem.”

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has warned the NFL that shifting media rights to costly streaming services could prompt the agency to take regulatory action and potentially cost the league its anti-trust exemption that allows it to negotiate media rights.

Carr made the comments in a March 29 interview on Fox News. Fox introduced the segment with a poll showing that 72% of fans would prefer to watch major sporting events on broadcast TV, versus only 27% on streaming.

The cable news net also presented a study showing that the shift of rights to streaming services and pay TV outlets was making it exorbitantly expensive for fans to watch NFL games. The study concluded consumers would have to shell out nearly $2,500 a year to subscribe to multiple apps just to watch games.

The experience of watching sports “has become frustrating over the last several years,” Carr said in response to the data. “It's more complex, it's more costly. You effectively have to have a computer science degree to decipher this. As you noted, people have to sign up for Netflix and Hulu and YouTube and Google. It's very, very difficult these days, but historically, broadcast TV and sports leagues have had a great and mutually beneficial relationship.

“We’re at a point now where I think some of these leagues are at a tipping point where they're going to push this issue so far and start to lose their antitrust exemption,” he added. “We’re all for sports leagues getting fair market value for their product, but right now, they're benefiting from a very unique antitrust exemption to pool their bargaining together, but...we're at a tipping point where these leagues can push it so far putting games behind paywalls that they undermine their ability to claim that antitrust exemption.”

In response to a question about what could be done to address the problem, Carr noted that the FCC has an ongoing inquiry into broadcast sports rights that has attracted a lot of attention with thousands of comments, which is “a big number for the FCC. We're reviewing that right now. The vast majority so far, based on an initial assessment, support keeping a significant portion of these sports games on free over the air broadcast TV.”

He also said that “there could be actions at other portions of the government and Congress as well, if these sports leagues continue to push this issue.”

NEW YORK—Nielsen has released revised Super Bowl LX viewership data, with the total rising to 125.6 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+ on Sunday, February 8, according to Big Data + Panel measurement.

Nielsen said that the update was due to the fact that an unnamed "big data provider" did not properly collect data from its devices on February 8, which impacted the Big Data + Panel count.

The telecast on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+ drew a combined average household rating of 39.7.

Nielsen initially reported 124.9 million average viewers. It did not report updates to the peak viewing numbers it initially released.

Updated data was provided after initial ratings were made public on February 10. Additional ratings updates from February 8 are also now available to Nielsen clients.

In 2023, Nielsen also updated its viewing figures for the Super Bowl. Fox revised viewing figures from 113 million to 115.1 million total viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming after it discovered that Nielsen had made encoding errors.

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Sports said its Super Bowl coverage Feb. 8 set an all-time media record for peak viewing, with 137.8 million watching in the second quarter as the Seattle Seahawks led the New England Patriots 6-0.

The Seahawks’ 29-13 victory over the Patriots averaged 124.9 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+, based on the official live-plus-same-day Nielsen Big Data + Panel data. It ranked as the second-most watched show in U.S. history, behind last February’s Super Bowl on Fox.

This year’s Super Bowl was also the most-watched show in the history of NBCUniversal, which celebrates 100 years of NBC in 2026.

“The Super Bowl and the NFL once again delivered a blockbuster audience across the NBC broadcast network, Peacock, and Telemundo, and provided an unprecedented lead-in to our Primetime in Milan coverage,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella saids. “The Super Bowl and the Olympics are the two most powerful events in the world, and we salute our talented production, tech, and announce teams who delivered best-in-class presentations for our viewers, stations and partners.”

In addition, Telemundo delivered the most-watched Super Bowl in the history of U.S. Spanish-language television, averaging 3.3 million viewers. Telemundo’s audience peaked during the halftime show, with an average of 4.8 million viewers—the most-watched Super Bowl halftime in Spanish-language TV history.

The halftime show also set a number of records.

Total social consumption (inclusive of fans, owned platforms, broadcast partners, influencers, etc.) of the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show starring Bad Bunny set a record of 4 billion views after the first 24 hours, up 137% year over year, per Ripple Analytics.

Over 55% of all NFL social views of the halftime show came from international markets.

The three most-viewed NFL social posts in history are now Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show clips. In total, these clips have been viewed for more than 115 years on social media platforms:

• “Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love”—@NFL on Instagram had 179 million views, most viewed clip on NFL Social ever with more than half (54%) of views coming from outside the U.S.
• Bad Bunny Listing Countries Before Spiking Football—@NFL on Instagram had 168 million, the second most-watched clip on NFL social ever with 68% of views coming from outside the U.S.
• Bad Bunny Listing Countries Before Spiking Football—@NFL on TikTok had 100 million views; people have spent a combined 53-plus years watching this clip already; 60% of the viewership is female, 62% comes from outside the United States; 91% of viewers under 35; 36% under 25.

In addition, the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show averaged 128.2 million viewers from 8:15-8:30 p.m. ET in the U.S. Full global viewership for the halftime show will be available early next week.

Apple also reported that immediately following the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, Bad Bunny listens on Apple Music were up 7 times. “DtMF,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” and “Tití Me Preguntó” were the most-streamed songs immediately after the show. Other Apple Music notables from the Halftime Show include:

In the hours following his performance, Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Set List playlist became the most-played Set List on Apple Music.

• The day after Super Bowl LX, Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS landed on the album charts in 155 countries, reaching the Top 10 in 128 countries and claiming the #1 spot in 46 countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Germany, France and Spain.
• Following his appearance in the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, Bad Bunny also occupied nearly a quarter of the Daily Top 100 Global chart, with 24 songs in the Top 100, 9 songs in the Top 25, and 6 songs in the Top 10, including “DtMF,” which was the #1 song.
• 6 of the 24 songs re-entered the Daily Top 100 Global chart for the first time since at least February 2025, and his single with Cardi B, “I Like It,” re-entered the chart for the first time since January 2020.

The popularity of the Super Bowl also helped NBC’s coverage of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Following the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation on the field at Levi’s Stadium, Super Bowl play-by-play voice Mike Tirico hosted “Primetime in Milan,” which featured Lindsey Vonn’s downhill run, and gold-medal-winning performances by Breezy Johnson in the downhill and Team USA in the team figure skating event at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Sunday’s “Primetime in Milan” and “Milan Prime” presentations averaged 42 million viewers, marking NBCUniversal’s largest Winter Games audience since Day 2 of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (a span of 53 event days) and an increase of 73% over the corresponding 2022 Beijing Olympics show (24.3 million), which also followed the Super Bowl.

In addition, Sunday was Peacock’s best day ever in terms of both reach and hours streamed, and featured the post-Super Bowl debut of “The Burbs,” which was the highest day-one Peacock original debut ever.

More detailed viewership metrics will be available from Nielsen later this week.

NEW YORK—Television viewing climbed to a 12-month high in January 2026, according to Nielsen’s latest report of The Gauge as overall viewing was up 3.7% over December. That was fueled by a 9% monthly increase in cable viewership, in combination with high-stakes sports, returning broadcast dramas and colder winter temperatures that kept audiences indoors.

Cable captured the largest monthly viewing increase across The Gauge in January and represented 21.2% of total TV (+1.0 share point of total viewing).

Cable sports viewing surged 49% over December, propelled by ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoffs, which included the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games. ESPN alone saw an 82% monthly viewing uptick. Meanwhile, cable news benefited from an active news cycle in January and rose 13% versus December, largely driven by a 17% viewership gain for Fox News Channel, plus a 29% gain for CNN. Notably, ESPN and Fox News Channel each represented 2.2% of total TV usage in January, and together, the two networks comprised 21% of this month’s cable viewing.

Sports remained the anchor for broadcast viewership in January as football continued to dominate the category. NFL games accounted for the top 15 broadcast telecasts, and the sports genre represented the largest share of the category’s viewership (30%).

Broadcast dramas were also on the rise (up 24% vs. December), and "High Potential" on ABC emerged as the most-watched drama program of the month. Similar to cable, the busy news cycle boosted broadcast news viewing by 10% compared to last month, led by "ABC World News Tonight". Overall, broadcast viewership was up 4.2% versus December and represented 21.5% of TV.

Following record viewing levels in December, streaming proved its resilience in January, Nielsen reported. Time spent streaming increased 2.7% month-over-month and the category continued to represent the lion’s share of TV usage with 47.0%.

Highlights from the audience data for streaming include:

• Netflix mirrored the resilience of streaming following its best monthly performance to date. The platform achieved a steady 1% viewing increase (8.8% of TV) versus December, and owned the top streaming program for a second consecutive month, as Stranger Things tallied 15.4 billion viewing minutes in January.
• Peacock viewership was up 10% in January, bringing the streamer to 1.8% of TV. Peacock’s monthly uptick was driven primarily by the new season of its original series The Traitors, and by audiences watching simulcasts of NFL games carried on NBC. This cross-platform amplification was most noticeable on Sunday, January 18 during NBC’s broadcast of the NFL Divisional Playoff matchup between the L.A. Rams and Chicago Bears, which fueled a 78% boost in viewership over its monthly average.
• Across the free ad-supported streaming platforms, Tubi and The Roku Channel each claimed monthly increases. Tubi was up 6% versus December to notch 2.1% of TV, and Roku Channel increased 5% to maintain its platform-best 3.0% share of TV for a second consecutive month.

The January 2026 interval spanned four weeks, from 12/29/2025 through 01/25/2026. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots faced off Feb. 8, Sennheiser wireless solutions played a pivotal role in delivering pristine live audio throughout the Super Bowl LX broadcast.

Brandi Carlile’s rendition of “America the Beautiful” during the pre-game show marked the debut of a prototype Spectera SKM handheld, while the Apple Music Halftime Show brought memorable guest performances on the proven Sennheiser Digital 6000 wireless system by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.

Spectera is a wideband, bidirectional digital wireless ecosystem that enables simultaneous audio transmission, system control and monitoring within a single RF channel. It allows up to 64 channels (32 in/32 out) of simultaneous audio transmission, monitoring and control within a single rack unit, significantly reducing RF complexity and improving stability.

Carlile’s performance featured a custom gold Spectera SKM handheld prototype and Neumann KK 205 microphone capsule, operating at 1 millisecond (ms) latency with 96 kHz audio resolution. The Spectera system’s ultra-low latency and high-definition signal path ensured exceptional vocal clarity and immediacy across the stadium and broadcast feed.

The star-studded halftime show, led by Bad Bunny, featured guest performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, each using custom-finished Sennheiser Digital 6000 handheld transmitters—white for Gaga and silver for Martin. Their wireless microphones delivered consistency, transparency and reliability.

Across the event, seven Sennheiser wireless microphones and nine stereo in-ear systems operated using just 6 MHz of RF spectrum, highlighting the spectral efficiency of the Spectera and Digital 6000 solutions in one of live audio’s most congested RF environments.

“The clarity and stability were what stood out right away,” said Jerry Streeter, monitor engineer for Carlile. “There is no audible compression, the top end stays smooth on wedges, and the in-ears sound incredibly open. From an RF perspective, getting all that performance on a single TV channel is a game changer.”

The path to the Spectera handheld transmitter’s Super Bowl LX debut began last year, when RF engineer Cameron Stuckey collaborated with Sennheiser on the ambitious New York theater production “Masquerade,” where early Spectera in-ear monitoring systems demonstrated reliable, high-channel-count wireless performance in an exceptionally challenging RF environment. When Stuckey was later named lead RF coordinator for Super Bowl LX, that experience sparked discussions about whether Spectera could meet the technical demands of the event.

“That project [“Masquerade,”] required high-density, bidirectional wireless in a complex structure environment, utilizing every feature of Spectera – device capacity, multi-zone operation, modulation diversity,” said Stuckey. “It was the best demonstration of the system’s stability. Knowing the Sennheiser team was as committed to perfection as I was meant it was ready for any production.”

A key factor in bringing the Spectera handheld to the Super Bowl was the support of Sean Quackenbush, Carlile’s longtime front of house engineer, and her monitor engineer, Jerry Streeter, who have relied on Sennheiser and Neumann vocal solutions for years.

In preparation for the pre-game show, Quackenbush evaluated the Spectera handheld transmitter prototype alongside his preferred Neumann KK 205 capsule and recognized the system’s sonic advantages.

“As a front-of-house engineer, the biggest thing for me is when I don’t have to work on a vocal mic to make it sound right,” said Quackenbush. “With Spectera, what I heard right away was how musical it was. The proximity effect felt natural, not exaggerated, and for the first time with a wireless handheld you’re really hearing the Neumann capsule itself. It has that German studio quality you expect in a controlled environment, but we were hearing it live, wirelessly, in a stadium. Once we heard that immediacy and clarity, it was hard to imagine going back.”

In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, Stuckey and Quackenbush worked closely with Sennheiser to prepare a custom prototype Spectera handheld transmitter for the broadcast.

To ensure seamless coverage through rehearsals and the live broadcast, the production team deployed three Sennheiser DAD antennas covering the stadium bowl, with an additional DAD antenna supporting backstage and preparation areas.

“Spectera allows us to deploy antenna systems in a fraction of the time that coax-based narrowband systems require to get right,” said Stuckey. “Instead of compensating for lossy links or RF-Over-Fiber conversion artifacts, we define the coverage area, place the DAD antennas and plug it in. Spectrum selection is the challenge of large events like Super Bowl. Having such a wide tuning range and access to 1G4 spectrum means that Spectera can be used on any show, regardless of size. You’ll see it on TV again soon.”

SAN DIEGO—Sony, an official technology partner of the NFL, has provided details about how its technologies will play an expanded role in Super Bowl LX, which will mark the company’s most advanced presence at the NFL’s championship game to date.

The upcoming Super Bowl will be the first that is played utilizing Sony’s NFL Coach’s Headsets, which debuted at the start of the 2025 season.

Inspired by Sony's industry-leading 1000X headphone series and designed to optimize sound quality and maximize durability, comfort and clarity, the headsets have supported coaches and staff across all 32 teams with consistent reliability in high-noise, high-pressure environments in all types of weather conditions. At Super Bowl LX, they will carry the strategic communication that guides the game’s most critical moments.

Like previous years, Sony’s imaging technology will play a major role in capturing and sharing all the action from Super Bowl LX across both video and still photography. In total, more than 175 Sony cameras will be on and around the field on game day including a number of HDC cameras for broadcast and high-frame rate capture plus many AlphaTM camera bodies such as the acclaimed Alpha 1 II and Alpha 9 III models, and E-mount lenses including G Master™.

Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology, the NFL Virtual Measurement system, will also be used for the first time in a Super Bowl. The system provides a consistent and efficient Line to Gain measurement result once the ball is spotted on the field. Sony’s Hawk-Eye video and replay technology will also be used to support officiating and video reviews on all eligible plays.

“Technology plays a central role in how the NFL continues to evolve the game,” said Aaron Amendolia, deputy CIO of the NFL. “Sony’s integrated systems, whether officiating data or sideline communication, help us deliver a faster, clearer, and more consistent experience on our biggest stage.”

“Our partnership with the NFL is built on a shared commitment to innovation,” said Theresa Alesso, president, Imaging Products and Solutions Americas, Sony Electronics. “This year’s Super Bowl reflects how Sony technologies work together through data, communication, and imaging to support every moment of the game, from the field to the broadcast to the fan experience.”

“As the biggest game and the most-watched show of the year, the Super Bowl production requires tools we can trust,” said Ken Goss, NBC Sports executive vice president of Studio and Remote Operations. “Working with Sony allows us to flawlessly deliver every angle, replay and on-field moment to viewers watching around the world.”

NBC Sports will deploy Sony’s cameras and lenses across its Super Bowl LX broadcast footprint, supporting everything from primary game coverage to specialty capture, Skycam solutions, and on‑field features. Sony’s imaging systems will help provide NBC the clarity, speed, and reliability required to deliver the most‑watched live broadcast in the United States.

Sony’s imaging technology will also play a major role supporting in-venue production teams, and sideline photographers including The Associated Press and the NFL’s in-house photography and media teams. From the shallow cinematic depth of field looks to high frame rate capture and wireless mobility, Sony’s cameras and lenses will support the visual storytelling that ensures Super Bowl LX lives far beyond game day.

In addition to Virtual Measurement and officiating replay and video support mentioned above, this year’s Super Bowl will feature the first fully integrated optical player and ball tracking environment powered by Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations. Sony’s Hawk-Eye SkeleTRACK system tracks 29-points on each player and 3D ball tracking. The SkeleTRACK system, in combination with Zebra Technologies’ RFID wearables, together provides a player tracking system that enhances the league’s ability to analyze on-field movement and ball position with greater clarity and consistency.

Below is a cumulative, high-level outline of all the Sony cameras and related technologies that are being used to cover Super Bowl LX.

NBC:

• 37 Sony HDC-Series System Cameras:
• 35x Sony HDC-5500
• 2x Sony HDC-4300
• 18 Sony HDC-Series POV Cameras:
• 6x Sony HDC-P50A (4x 4K)
• 11x Sony HDC-P50
• 1x Sony HDC-P31
• 5 Cinema Cameras:
• 3x Sony PXW-FX9
• 2x Sony PMW-F55
• 2 Sony PTZ Cameras:
• 1x Sony ILME-FR7
• 1x Sony BRC-AM7
• 3 Aerial/ Specialty Cameras
• 2x Sony ILX-LR1
• 1x Sony HDC-P50

Funicular Goats Halftime Show Production:

• 11 Sony VENICE 2 Digital Cinema Cameras
• 3 Sony BURANO Digital Cinema Cameras
• 1 Sony FR7 Cinema Line PTZ Camera

In‑Venue Imaging at Levi’s Stadium:

• 10 Sony UHD cameras, including the HDC-3500 (hard positions), HDC-5500 (HFR), HDC-3500 (RF wireless) and ILME-FX3A (RF shallow depth of field) with Sony’s E-mount lenses sideline & photography Support
• The Associated Press: 55 Sony camera bodies, 80 lenses, 15 PDT-FP1 Portable data transmitters
• NFL Focus Photography Team: 8 Sony’s cameras, 20 lenses
• Sony Imaging PRO Support:
• 45 Sony full frame mirrorless cameras
• 90 E-mount lenses
• 12 PDT-FP1 Portable data transmitters
• PXW-Z200 camcorders
• Pre‑Loan Program: Estimated 10 bodies and 15 lenses shipped in advance

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—NBC Sports has laid out the enormous scale of its coverage of Super Bowl LX (Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots) on Sunday, February 8, with a host of stats showing that it will be deploying a NBC Sports’ team of more than 700 people along with 145 cameras, 130 microphones, 75 miles of cable, 22 mobile units, and a massive collection of additional tools and resources.

In all, NBCUniversal will present 90+ hours of Super Bowl-related coverage this week across multiple platforms including NBC, Telemundo, Peacock and Universo.

The game is part of what NBCUniversal is calling its “Legendary February” with its coverage of the Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl and the NBA All Star Weekend.

On Feb. 8, it will offer both Super Bowl LX and the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games converge across NBCUniversal platforms featuring pre-game show, the game, the awarding of the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara and multiple gold medal events in Milan and Livigno.

Following is NBC Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl LX “by the numbers”:

• 1st Super Bowl play-by-play assignment for Mike Tirico
• 2 SkyCams used by NBC Sports to cover the game (including “High Sky”)
• 2nd Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl matchup presented by NBC Sports (Super Bowl XLIX)
• 3 Super Bowl games as a referee for NBC Sports rules analyst Terry McAulay
• 6th Super Bowl as game analyst for Cris Collinsworth (fifth featuring the New England Patriots)
• 9 Locations of NBC Sports’ hosts, analysts, and commentators around the Bay Area and Levi’s Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday
• 11 Combined Super Bowl victories among NBC Sports Super Bowl LX Pregame Show teammates Tony Dungy (XIII as a player with the Steelers, XLI as head coach of the Colts), Rodney Harrison (XXXVIII and XXXIX with the Patriots), Jason Garrett (XXVII, XXVIII, and XXX as a player with the Cowboys), Devin McCourty (XLIX, LI, and LIII with the Patriots), and guest analyst and former Los Angels Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (LVI)
• 16.5 Hours of combined Super Bowl LX and Winter Olympics coverage on NBC and Peacock on Sunday, Feb. 8
• 21 Hosts, analysts, and commentators around the Bay Area and Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl Sunday
• 22 Mobile units on-site at Levi’s Stadium
• 23 Years between assignments as Super Bowl sideline reporter for Melissa Stark
• 75 Miles of camera and microphone cable
• 130 Microphones
• 145 Cameras used for Super Bowl (81, including fixed cameras on pylons, etc.) and pre-game (64) coverage
• 700 + NBC Sports employees on site in the Bay Area
• 396,000 feet of camera and microphone cable
• $10+ million Record cost of a 30-second advertisement during Super Bowl LX

NEW YORK—In the run-up to Super Bowl LX, the VAB has released a new study filled with data bolstering the notion that primetime football is among the most powerful programming on TV, delivering massive viewership, real-time engagement and high-impact audiences across streaming and linear TV.

The study comes at a time when reports indicate the NFL is seeking to renegotiate existing contracts for media rights, which the League believes are undervalued compared to sums paid recently paid for the NBA and other sports.

The new report, What's the Spread? Examining Key Stats on Audience Growth From the 2025 NFL Season notes that as Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, Sunday Night Football on NBC and Monday Night Football across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC all continued to grow, NFL primetime served as a reliable engine for scale, with divisional rivalries and tightly contested matchups consistently delivering the biggest audience lifts, with strong co-viewing and out-of-home viewership adding significant incremental reach.

"The NFL continues to deliver outsized, real-time impact, with audiences up year-over-year across all three signature primetime series, reinforcing live football as one of Premium Video's strongest drivers of reach and engagement," said Jason Wiese, executive vice president, strategic insights and measurement, VAB. "Divisional rivalries and many tightly contested games were key drivers of higher audience ratings across the three signature primetime series. Out-of-home viewing, which skews towards younger demographics, is also a critical component of audience growth that adds substantial reach for live sporting events, especially during key holiday periods."

The analysis also highlights how Nielsen's Big Data Plus Panel measurement captures NFL total P2+ audience viewership in comparison to the legacy Panel Only measurement that was the currency-of-record in past years.

Key findings include:

• Live NFL games are watched in real-time, reinforcing it as an effective environment that delivers unmatched immediacy and ad impact.
• Divisional matchups increase viewership by double-digits as fans are more likely to flock towards long-standing, established rivalries.
• Primetime NFL games deliver high-value audiences in key buying demos across multiscreen TV platforms.
• Out-of-home viewership contributes double-digit lifts in total audience, especially among the highly elusive P18-34 demographic.
• Broadcast TV telecasts, led by late-Sunday afternoon timeslot, continue to be the most watched NFL games throughout the season.

The report's findings draw from VAB's viewership analysis based on the full 2025 season schedule across the three signature primetime series versus the prior season. The report—which includes in-depth data, key takeaways and cited sources— can be accessed here.

Following regulatory approval by the U.S. Justice Department and other government agencies, ESPN and the NFL have announced that ESPN's purchase of the NFL Network and other league digital assets has been finalized.

Last August, ESPN and the NFL reached a wide-ranging series of deals that included an agreement for ESPN to acquire NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and other media assets in exchange for the league taking a 10% stake in ESPN.

In addition, ESPN and the league announced agreements for media rights and content distribution that were important for ESPN’s launch of its direct-to-consumer app. As part of those agreements, the NFL Network will be included in the direct-to-consumer app.

The content distribution agreements included the right to distribute RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators. "With the closing, we will begin integrating NFL employees into ESPN in the months ahead," ESPN and the NFL said in a joint statement. "As we look to the future, NFL fans can look forward to expanded NFL programming, greater access to NFL Network, innovative Fantasy experiences and unparalleled coverage of America's most popular sport."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CNBC estimated that stake in ESPN could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion.

ESPN’s website reported that “NFL will continue to own, operate and produce the channel and retain the rights to distribute the channel digitally. ESPN would also get rights to the RedZone brand, meaning RedZone channels for college football, basketball or other sports could be coming in the future. NFL Fantasy Football will merge with ESPN Fantasy Football, giving ESPN the official fantasy football game of the league.”

More information is available here.

STAMFORD, Conn.—Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams-Chicago Bears thriller delivered NBC Sports’ most-watched NFL Divisional Playoff audience on record, with an average of 45.4 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms and NFL Digital platforms, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

Viewing peaked at 52.6 million in the game’s final minutes between 9:45 and 10 pm ET as the Rams defeated the Bears 20-17 in overtime.

Rams-Bears (45.4 million viewers) is NBC Sports’ most watched NFL Divisional Playoff on record, since Nielsen’s launched the People Meter in 1988 – covering a total of 34 games. NBC’s previous most-watched Divisional Playoff (41.1 million viewers) came in Jan. 1994 as Joe Montana threw three second-half TD passes to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 28-20 victory over fellow Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon and the Houston Oilers.

Led by Peacock, NBC Sports Digital delivered its largest NFL simulstream audience ever (excluding Super Bowls) with an Average Minute Audience of 5.3 million viewers across Peacock, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and NFL Digital properties.

Chicago led all markets with a massive 34.7/66 local rating while the game averaged 16.3/55 in Los Angeles – up 15% from the 14.2/57 for the Rams-Eagles NFC Divisional Playoff last season on NBC.

NEW YORK—New data shows that streaming viewership captured 47.5% of television in December 2025, eclipsing its previous record set in July 2025 to achieve the largest share of TV ever reported in Nielsen’s The Gauge, a snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption.

The Gauge also reported that Christmas Day set records for streaming usage with 55.1 billion viewing minutes, shattering the previous single-day streaming record by 8% (12/25/2024, 51.2 billion minutes), and marking just the second time in TV history where daily streaming volume exceeded 50 billion minutes.

The huge day of streaming viewership was driven by back-to-back NFL games on Netflix, strategically followed by the highly anticipated release of new "Stranger Things" episodes, in addition to Prime Video’s late NFL game. Combined, Netflix and Prime Video commanded 22.5% of total TV usage across the day, Nielsen reported.

Meanwhile, streaming levels overall on Christmas Day swelled to an unprecedented 54% of daily TV usage, the largest single-day share of TV ever recorded by the category, Nielsen reported.

Streaming’s dominance in December was further evidenced by the fact that the category exceeded 50% of daily TV usage twice, having occurred for the first time ever on Saturday, December 13 when streaming represented 50.4% of TV.

Overall streaming usage was up 3% in December versus November, doubling the monthly increase of total TV usage. Four streaming platforms achieved personal bests this month, including:

• Netflix, 9.0% of TV: Netflix viewership was up 10% month-over-month, with increases largely driven by Stranger Things, which generated over 15 billion viewing minutes and was December’s most-watched streaming title.
• Prime Video, 4.3% of TV: Prime Video surged 12% versus last month and exceeded its previous platform record by 0.3 share points. Prime Video’s increases were driven by four NFL Thursday Night Football games, including a record-setting Christmas Day game, as well as new episodes of its original series Fallout.
• The Roku Channel, 3.0% of TV: The free ad-supported streamer added 0.1 share point from November to secure an all-time monthly high.
• Paramount Streaming, 2.5% of TV: Led by the 6.2 billion viewing minutes generated by its original series "Landman" on Paramount+ (December’s No. 2 most-watched streaming title), Paramount Streaming was up 10% versus November to hit a collective 2.5% share of TV (Paramount+ and Pluto).

Across traditional TV, broadcast viewership represented 21.4% of total TV watch-time in December, while cable accounted for 20.2%. CBS and FOX secured the top broadcast programs in December, led by Fox’s Eagles vs. Bills NFL matchup on December 28, followed by the Steelers vs. Lions on CBS on December 21. CBS also owned the top non-sports programs of the month with Tracker and 60 Minutes, each capturing over 10 million viewers (L+7) and the largest non-sports program audiences.

Cable sports programming experienced a 16% viewing lift in December to represent 9% of total cable viewing. NFL games represented the top five cable telecasts this month, led by all four of the December interval’s Monday Night Football games on ESPN, followed by the NFL Network’s coverage of the Texans vs. Chargers matchup on December 27.

The December 2025 interval spanned five weeks, from 12/01/2025 through 12/28/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

NEW YORK—While recent media coverage has promoted Amazon Prime Video’s January 10 NFL playoff matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears as the most-watched NFL game ever on a streaming platform, a new study by the TVB of Nielsen data shows that broadcast television continues to deliver significantly larger NFL audiences for postseason and regular season games.

According to Nielsen, the national Live+1 audience for the Amazon telecast among people 2+ posted a 9.82 rating, delivering 31.6 million impressions. However, this figure includes local broadcast station viewership in the home team Designated Market Areas (DMAs), specifically Green Bay and Chicago.

While Green Bay’s local broadcast data has not yet been reported, Nielsen has released Chicago DMA results. In Chicago alone, the game delivered an 18.4 Live+Same Day rating, totaling approximately 1.73 million impressions. When the Chicago broadcast audience is removed from the national total, Amazon’s streaming-only audience is estimated at approximately 29.87 million impressions.

The highest NFL game for that weekend using the same metrics (Live +1 for people 2+) was on broadcast television (Fox) with a 12.73 rating and 40.97 million impressions.

During the regular season, broadcast NFL games consistently generate large viewership. The Thanksgiving Day NFL game on CBS achieved a 17.81 rating and 57.33 million impressions while the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles rematch on September 14, which aired on Fox, earned a 10.5 rating, delivering 33.81 million impressions.

The NFL’s wild-card playoff round scored hefty viewing numbers for all five games, with Fox leading the weekend with 41 million viewers for the Jan. 11 San Francisco 49ers-Philadelphia Eagles game and Prime Video setting an all-time streaming record for NFL viewing.

Fox also reported 28 million viewers for its coverage of the Jan. 10 Los Angeles Rams-Carolina Panthers game, which peaked at 31 million viewers and was the most-watched Saturday afternoon wild-card playoff game since 2011.

Citing Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel, Amazon’s Prime Vdeo reported that its Jan. 10 coverage of the primetime Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears game set an all-time NFL streaming record with 31.61 million viewers, shattering the previous record by 4 million, set on Christmas Day with 27.52 million for the Netflix telecast of the Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings game.

Packers-Bears saw a 43% year-over-year viewership increase over Prime Video’s 2025 telecast of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens wild-card playoff, which was also presented on a Saturday night (Jan. 1, 2025).

The numbers also indicated that the streamer had achieved the concurrent viewers and the highest single-day global viewership ever for Prime Video.

For its part, CBS Sports said the early Sunday AFC Buffalo Bills-Jacksonville Jaguars wild-card game was the most-watched game ever in the early Sunday slot on any network, drawing 32.71 viewers and peaking with 41.15 million at the game's end. That was up 5% from last year.

NBC's Sunday primetime coverage of the New England Patriots beating the Los Angeles Chargers averaged 28.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched Sunday night broadcast of any kind since last February's Super Bowl.

NEW YORK—With the NFL playoffs scheduled to start this weekend, the league said its 2025 regular season averaged 18.7 million television viewers per game. That’s the second-highest season average on record and up 10% from the 2024 season and 7% from 2023.

That put the 2025 season’s viewership at just below the record set in 1989, when average viewing was about 19 million.

Viewing data from Nielsen also highlighted how important the NFL has become to networks. NFL game telecasts have accounted for 89 of the top 100 shows on TV since the start of the 2025 regular season.

ESPN reported that all of the rightsholders also saw increases: Prime Video's "Thursday Night Football" was up 16%; CBS up 11%; ESPN/ABC's "Monday Night Football" up 9%; NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” up 9%; and Fox tallying a 6% increase.

The most popular regular season games are listed below in a graphic from the NFL posted to X. It shows that the most-watched regular game was the 4:25 p.m. (ET) Kansas City Chiefs-Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game on CBS, which reached 57.3 million viewers:

On an NFL game day, the mix isn’t just sound, it’s the heartbeat of the broadcast. The goal is simple: Make viewers feel like they’re standing on the field without overwhelming the action. Neither Daniel Haggard nor Jeremy Katz originally imagined themselves shaping the audio for primetime NFL games, but once they found their way into broadcast audio, both discovered the rare mix of pressure, precision and excitement that keeps them coming back.

Haggard started in the early 2000s in Syracuse, back when the workflow was still mostly analog and troubleshooting was half the job. His big break came in 2015 when veteran mixer Wendel Stevens invited him to join NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” a leap that meant six months on the road with a brand-new crew.

“It was terrifying and thrilling,” he said. “Only 6 million people watching.”

Seven years as an A2 gave him hands-on experience with RF, comms and field audio. That training made stepping into submixing a natural next move.

Katz’s route looks different. He cut his teeth working with bands, eventually landed at regional sports networks before joining Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” four seasons ago. His philosophy is straightforward: “My job is to capture everything happening on the field and hand the A1 something solid and clean. I try to be as aggressive as I can, and the A1 can decide what’s safe for air.”

Katz said the key is chasing clarity, not noise for the sake of noise.

Showing and Telling
Both mixers talk about audio in practical, picture-first terms. If something is happening on screen, the viewer should hear it—simple as that. From the quarterback’s cadence to a clean catch or the thump of a tackle, the goal is to match the energy and detail the cameras are showing. Anything that’s unnecessary, distracting or muddy doesn’t belong in the mix.

One tool they fully agree on is the mic mounted on the SkyCam. Hovering just above the action, it’s positioned closer to the players than almost any other microphone. Katz calls it “the best mic on the field,” and Haggard uses it as a bed of natural sound.

From there, player mics provided by the league give him extra detail on the line. He brings them up after the huddle breaks, rides them through the snap, then pulls them down quickly to avoid smearing the rest of the soundscape.

Parabs are another staple. Both mixers prefer committing to a single parab per play rather than blending multiple at once.

“Quality over quantity,” Katz said. “You get a clearer picture when you’re not stacking too much.” Haggard agreed that picking the right mic and trusting it is part of the craft. Sometimes you guess wrong, but when you guess right, it feels perfect.”

Nowhere is that more true than with the most coveted sound in NFL audio: the “doink.”

Across crews, mixers keep a friendly, season-long competition over who can capture the best goalpost hit. Katz joked that the entire “TNF” truck starts cheering the moment a kick drifts toward the upright.

Haggard remembered one playoff game where everything lined up: the contact mics on the post, the 416s under the crossbar, the tension of the moment and Mike Tirico’s call. “If that mic was down, it would’ve ruined the whole moment,” he said. “Instead, it was perfect. I rode the adrenaline all the way back to the hotel.”

An Art and a Science
Mixing the NFL isn’t easy—you’re dealing with massive crowd surges, stadium PA music, sideline chaos, sweaty linemen, unpredictable ref mics and dozens of camera perspectives that shift direction every few seconds. You’re anticipating where a play is going before it happens. You’re making choices that millions of viewers will react to instantly.

Both mixers emphasize that it’s a creative craft, not just a technical job. You learn by watching others, borrowing ideas, shaping your own style, and adjusting to each game’s personality. “There’s no single right way to mix,” Haggard said. “You pick up techniques, try new things, and keep refining. That’s what makes it fun.”

For viewers at home, the result is seamless: Every snap, tackle and catch lands with clarity and intensity.

Behind the screens, it’s hundreds of subtle decisions: mic choice, fader ride and EQ tweaks that make the difference between a flat, lifeless broadcast and one that truly feels alive.

NEW YORK—The power of the NFL to drive TV viewing was on full display in in November, with new data from Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of TV viewing, The Gauge, showing a 5.5% monthly increase in television usage. During the five-week interval covered by the November report, live sports drove broadcast to its best share of TV since last November, while simultaneously fueling double-digit growth for hybrid streamers like Peacock and Paramount+.

Nielsen’s The Gauge reported that Thanksgiving Day is the highlight of November television viewing as audiences watched 103.4 billion minutes of TV across the day.

Overall, linear streaming on Thanksgiving represented 10.1% of total TV usage to achieve the second-highest level of daily linear streaming ever, surpassed only by Super Bowl Sunday in February 2025. By comparison, linear streaming totaled 7.8% of TV usage across the month. Additionally, Thanksgiving was the broadcast category’s 10th-most-watched day since the inception of The Gauge in May 2021.

The month was also very good for broadcast. Broadcast extended its momentum in November, with viewership increasing 7% versus October to capture 23.2% of TV and outpace cable for a third consecutive month. Broadcast gains were driven overwhelmingly by a 30% monthly increase in sports viewing, powered by the back-half of the MLB World Series on FOX, plus NFL and college football on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, the researchers reported.

Even though sports accounted for just 3% of broadcast content by duration, sports commanded 37% of all broadcast viewership in November and 6.4% of total TV usage—the highest share for the genre ever recorded in The Gauge. NFL coverage drew more younger audiences into the broadcast ecosystem as well, with viewing for the under-30 group up 21% this month, and viewing for kids 2-11 up 27%, Nielsen reported.

The sports effect was just as potent in streaming, as multi-platform distributors continued to demonstrate how live sports are fueling a unified viewership ecosystem:

Peacock posted the strongest monthly growth among streaming platforms in November, soaring 22% on the strength of its NFL Sunday Night Football coverage and Thanksgiving Day programming. Peacock’s Thanksgiving featured simulcasts of NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and a primetime NFL game, the platform averaged 2.4 million viewers across the day, trailing only YouTube and Netflix (compared to individual platform totals). Peacock also benefited from new original drama series All Her Fault, which generated 2.4 billion minutes across the month. The overall impact lifted Peacock to a non-Olympic monthly record 1.9% share of television (+0.3 pts.), the researchers wrote.

Paramount+ (within Paramount Streaming) jumped 18.4% month over month, driven by NFL games alongside the return of its original series Landman. These gains lifted the combined Paramount Streaming portfolio to a 2.3% share of television (+0.2 pts.).

In addition to live sports, November also exhibited a striking example of broadcast and streaming convergence, the researchers said.

The Thanksgiving Day NFL matchup between the Chiefs and Cowboys on CBS generated 11.7 billion viewing minutes and was the top broadcast telecast of the month. Meanwhile, Stranger Things on Netflix totaled 11.8 billion viewing minutes across the entire month. Despite being viewed live versus on-demand, the end results were nearly identical as each accounted for more than 22,000 years of cumulative television viewing by U.S. audiences.

Overall, streaming usage grew 8% in November and captured 46.7% of total TV watch-time. This month also featured five of the top ten most-streamed days ever recorded, led by Saturday, November 29, which now ranks second all-time with 47.6 billion minutes streamed, behind the 51 billion minutes clocked on Christmas Day 2024. Most impactful to the overall November streaming landscape, however, was Netflix’s Stranger Things, whose nearly 12 billion viewing minutes propelled Netflix to a 10% monthly increase, adding 0.3 share points to finish with 8.3% of total TV. The Roku Channel also posted a standout performance, rising 9% overall and benefiting from a 23% jump among viewers ages 25–34. The gains lifted the platform to a record 2.9% share of television, Nielsen said.

Meanwhile, cable usage dipped 3% to a 20.5% share, exhibiting its lowest monthly total to date. While NFL games on ESPN remained top performers, the category felt the absence of the MLB playoffs, which caused the cable sports genre to retract by 42%. The category was buoyed slightly by holiday spirit, however, as the cable movie genre saw a 22% increase in viewership.

The November 2025 interval spanned five weeks, from 10/27/2025 through 11/30/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

In its description of the data, Nielsen noted that Linear streaming is defined as live broadcast and cable content viewed through MVPD/vMVPD services like YouTube TV and cable provider apps. Linear streaming is excluded from the streaming category in The Gauge.

NEW YORK—“Pass the turkey.” “Pass the stuffing.” “Pass the cranberry sauce.” All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and friends.

This year—like most in recent memory—another familiar plea was surely heard around millions of TVs across the country: “Pass the football!”

Nielsen is out today with its ratings for the week of Nov. 24-30, which includes Nov. 27, Thanksgiving Day, and NFL broadcast coverage put up big viewing numbers.

CBS coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs-Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving game was the most-watched NFL regular-season telecast in league history with 57.23 million viewers, Nielsen said.

Fox’s coverage of the early Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions game, simulcast on Tubi, garnered 47.7 million viewers, making it Fox’s most-watched regular-season game ever, it said.

NBC’s Thanksgiving Cincinnati Bengals-Baltimore Ravens game, simulcast on Peacock and Telemundo, saw 28.4 million viewers tune in, making it the most-watched Thanksgiving-night NFL game in league history, Nielsen said.

The following day, an average of 16.33 million viewers streamed the Chicago Bears-Philadelphia Eagles game on Prime Video, making it the most-watched Black Friday Football game to date, Nielsen said.

In all, NFL games secured eight of the top 12 slots across networks and distributors, including Fox, NBC, CBS, Prime Video, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

College sports also proved to be popular, with Fox’s Ohio State-Michigan game telecast averaging 18.42 million viewers, the biggest college football audience this season, it said.

College hoops broke viewing records on Thanksgiving Day as well. Duke-Arkansas on CBS was the most-watched regular-season college basketball game on any network since the 1992-93, season with 6.8 million viewers.

Michigan-North Carolina was the most-watched college basketball game in Fox history, with 6.5 million viewers, it said.

Overall, college football occupied 12 of the top 25 slots across five different networks, including three games with more than 10 million viewers, Nielsen said.

ESPN coverage of the Minnesota Timberwolves-Oklahoma City Thunder NBA game placed No. 24 in the top 25, and the 2025 National Dog Show on NBC and Peacock averaged 12.8 million viewers to take the No. 11 slot.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Dolby Laboratories has signed on as an official signature partner of the Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) for the 2026 Super Bowl and the week of festivities across the San Francisco Bay Area that will precede the Feb. 8 game.

“The Bay Area is synonymous with innovation, creativity and world-class experiences—values that are at the heart of our partnership with Dolby,” Zaileen Janmohamed, BAHC president and CEO. “Together, we will set a new bar for how technology can enhance major sporting events, while also investing in the people and communities that make this region so special.”

Dolby will showcase how Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and Dolby OptiView—the company’s new cloud video and streaming platform—are enabling immersive, real-time and more interactive streaming experiences, increasing audience engagement and bringing viewers closer to sports and entertainment.

The company’s suite of live sports innovations will power key events and community events surrounding the Super Bowl, to be played Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Through the partnership, Dolby will serve as Premier Partner of the BAHC Super Bowl LX Innovation Summit Presented by YouTube, a centerpiece of the weeklong program celebrating the Bay Area’s spirit of creativity and technology. The summit will feature immersive Dolby demonstrations, thought-leadership sessions and interactive installations.

Dolby will also play a leading role as the presenting partner of the BAHC Kickoff Party, set for Dolby’s San Francisco headquarters on Feb. 5.

In the week leading up to the game, fans and visitors will experience Dolby’s innovation, creativity and community through immersive activations and events across the Bay Area.

More information is available on the BAHC and Dolby websites.

NEW YORK—The popularity of NFL games is largely responsible for continued seasonal momentum in TV viewership into October (measured Sept. 29-Oct. 26), according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report, its monthly snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption.

The NFL simultaneously drove a 4.3% increase in broadcast viewing as well as gains for key streaming services, it said.

The impact of NFL coverage in October was most apparent when isolating viewership by day. Sundays exhibited the largest viewing shift across categories for the month, as broadcast averaged a 5.3-point gain to climb from an average of 22% of TV on Monday through Saturday, to 27.3% of TV on Sundays. By contrast, cable and streaming viewership experienced the opposite effect, with the time spent watching up slightly Monday-Saturday and lower on Sundays.

The NFL also drove increases on game days and overall for several streaming services.

Peacock exhibited a 19% monthly viewing uptick in October and represented 1.6% of TV. Its share on Sundays, however, averaged 2.0% of total TV.

Paramount+ viewership was up 8% in total versus last month, and the streamer’s average share of TV increased from 1.2% Monday-Saturday to 1.6% on Sundays, when it simulcasts CBS.

Amazon Prime Video, home of “Thursday Night Football,” gained three points against its monthly average on game days, jumping to 6.4% of TV on Thursdays in October.

Broadcast led all TV categories with a 4.3% monthly viewing gain in October, which resulted in 0.6 additional share points and 22.9% of television—building on its lead over cable and marking its largest share of TV since November 2024 (23.7%).

Despite the performance, broadcast sports viewership was down compared to September (-6.4%) but still accounted for nearly one-third of all broadcast viewing. NFL games on CBS, Fox and NBC claimed the top three overall program rankings with over 20 million viewers apiece (L+7). The fall TV season continued to unfold in October as well, as broadcast drama viewership saw a 28% increase over September led by “Tracker,” “Matlock” and “NCIS” on CBS, “High Potential” on ABC and “Chicago Fire” on NBC, to represent the largest monthly gain within the category.

Streaming viewership was up 2.4% month-over-month, outpacing the increase in overall TV usage (1.3%) to gain a half-point and represent 45.7% of TV watch-time in October. Surging football viewing on key streaming platforms helped to fuel the increase, while most non-NFL streamers saw decreases on game days. Netflix bucked the trend and grew its share of TV on Sundays. Netflix netted out with 7.9% of TV in October, but on Sundays specifically, its share climbed to 8.2% of TV. This was partially on the strength of its original series “Monster: The Ed Gein Story,” which was the most-streamed title of the month with 5.4 billion minutes viewed.

Cable watch-time in October tracked closely with overall usage (+1.2%), but the category’s share of TV slipped by 0.1 due to rounding to finish with 22.2% of total TV. Cable sports viewership increased nearly 50% versus September and represented 14% of the category’s viewing total.

Feature films were a bright spot for cable, exhibiting a 7% monthly increase in October as viewers sought out their favorite spooky movies amid the Halloween season. News continued to lead cable viewing, owning nearly a quarter of the category’s share despite a 3% drop from the preceding month.

More information is available on The Gauge and Nielsen websites.

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Sports and Peacock have announced that they are working for the second consecutive year with the National Football League, EA Sports and Genius Sports to present a EA Sports Madden NFL Cast of the Baltimore Ravens versus the Cincinnati Bengals Thanksgiving matchup.

Blending video game elements and live action, the stream will be an immersive, data-powered live football experience that injects Madden NFL’s unique brand elements as animated overlays, the producers said.

Featuring live EA Sports Madden NFL 26 graphics, route trees, play cards and player ratings, the Madden NFL Cast will show football strategy, information and other features for viewers, drawing on the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and GeniusIQ, Genius Sports’ next generation data and AI platform.

GeniusIQ combines real-time data insights with fully branded animations, delivering an immersive viewing experience, the company said.

Last year’s inaugural Madden NFL Cast complemented the Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs afternoon matchup on Sat., Dec. 21.

For this year’s Madden NFL Cast, the main coverage angle will predominantly come from the hi-sky camera located behind the quarterback, the view most familiar to Madden gamers, rather than from television’s traditional sideline camera location.

“We are excited to once again work with the NFL, EA SPORTS, and Genius Sports to offer fans the ability to watch Madden NFL come to life, exclusively on Peacock. It’s appropriate that this year’s Madden NFL Cast presentation takes place on Thanksgiving, an NFL holiday tradition that meant so much to John and now carries his name,” said NBC Sports’ executive producer of NFL Fred Gaudelli, who was the lead producer for John Madden’s final seven seasons in the broadcast booth (2002-05 at ABC, 2006-08 at NBC). “We look forward to showcasing the Madden NFL Cast in primetime as well as introducing some new features that viewers and gamers will enjoy.”

“We are thrilled to partner again with NBC Sports, EA Sports and Genius Sports to present the Madden NFL Cast on Peacock following last year’s successful debut,” said Grace Senko, NFL vice president, media strategy and business development. “We are always looking for exciting and innovative ways to present our game and reach new fans. John Madden was the ultimate teacher, and this production will honor his vast contributions to the game on a holiday he helped make synonymous with football.”

The live stream, available exclusively on Peacock, will feature a dedicated commentary team.

“We’re at a unique moment where the lines between traditional sports consumption and interactive entertainment continue to blur," said Evan Dexter, vice president of franchise strategy and marketing at EA Sports. “The EA Sports Madden NFL Cast represents our vision of growing the love of football by creating the most immersive, data-powered viewership experience possible using the unique elements of Madden that have been teaching generations of football gamers how to play, read, and understand the game. That was John Madden’s vision and this partnership with NBC Sports, the NFL, and Genius Sports champions that mission and proves alternative broadcasts aren’t just a trend, they’re the future. We’re proud to be leading innovation in this space on football’s biggest stage."

The Madden NFL Cast will be produced by Steve Greenberg and directed by Tim Nelson. Regular NBC Sports’ coverage of Bengals at Ravens will be presented on Thursday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. ET across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, and Universo.

To no one’s surprise, the NFL’s most dominant franchise in recent years attracts the most TV viewers, according to new research by S&P Global Market Intelligence, which also found that several U.S. TV markets without professional sports teams actually have more viewers than ones that do.

According to the researcher’s report, Professional Sports Viewing by U.S. TV Market, 2025,“ Columbus, Ohio, reported a 61% rate NFL game viewership, surpassing many markets with NFL teams (for the record, Columbus does have the Blue Jackets NHL franchise). The leading sports-TV markets were Dallas-Ft. Worth; Buffalo, N.Y., and Cincinnati; all leading with 79% viewership across various sports leagues.

The report also confirmed that Kansas City remains the top NFL market, with 72% of respondents watching pro football games, an increase from 67% in 2024..

In Major League Baseball, Sacramento saw a viewership surge following the temporary relocation of the Athletics from Oakland. MLB viewership in Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif., rose to 41%, a 10% point increase from 2024. Houston and Memphis dominate NBA viewership, with both cities reporting the highest pro basketball game viewership among the league’s TV markets, with Houston at 50% and Memphis at 49%.

In the NHL, Salt Lake City experienced the most significant growth in viewership, increasing from 12% in 2024 to 19% in 2025. Conversely, Miami saw a decline despite the Stanley Cup victory of the Florida Panthers, dropping from 28% to 23%.

For Major League Soccer, international star Lionel Messi has clearly influenced viewer behavior. His arrival at Inter Miami CF boosted MLS viewership in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale to 21%, up from 16% in 2024. Boston also saw notable growth, increasing from 9% to 14%.

ESPN said it will produce animated telecasts for NFL, NHL, NBA and WNBA games across The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN platforms during the 2025-26 season under an agreement it signed with Sony’s Beyond Sports and Hawk-Eye Innovations.

The telecasts will use Disney’s intellectual property portfolio in game presentations that transform live play into real-time animations, an innovation ESPN first introduced in 2023. More alternate telecasts are planned for the 2026-27 sports calendar, the broadcaster said.

“At ESPN, innovation has always been a driver in serving sports fans, including reaching new audiences,” said Kevin Lopes, vice president of sports business development and innovation at ESPN. “The Beyond Sports team has helped fuel our animated alternate casts, along with our league partners, creating an entirely new way for fans to consume our content. We look forward to continuing to produce these unique experiences for fans both this year and in the years ahead.”

ESPN, Disney, Sony’s Beyond Sports, and multiple league partners have collaborated on several previous animated alternate presentations, beginning with the NHL Big City Greens Classic in 2023 and a second the following year. Since then, the NFL has partnered on multiple Funday Football presentations, powered by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and featuring characters from “Toy Story” and “The Simpsons.” The NBA has also joined in with “Dunk the Halls,” featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters.

“The addition of four new telecasts this season will bring our total with ESPN to nine, a reflection of how this partnership continues to grow year on year,” Sander Schouten, managing director and co-founder of Beyond Sports, said. “Enabled by our technology, together we’re driving the evolution of fan engagement, creating new ways for fans to experience the game and redefining live sports storytelling.”

Expanding audiences is the primary motivation driving the animated alternate casts. They are intended to promote co-viewing and attract casual fans. ESPN research reveals that more children watch these telecasts with an adult, the broadcaster said.

More information is available online.

As TV and streaming media outlets pay record prices for NFL rights, those big bets are paying off with record viewing levels.

In a post on X, the NFL reported that average viewers per game is running at 18.58 million, the highest average through week five since 2010. It is also the second-highest average on record, the league reported.

Those viewing levels through the first give weeks are up 8% compared to 2024 and up 9% from 2023 levels.

More specifically, below are the viewing figures for the top 10 games.

With broadcasters, streamers and cable networks paying record-breaking amounts for rights to NFL football, a new study from Horowitz Research analyzes how fans are interacting with the games and explores how media companies can capitalize on those habits in their NFL coverage.

Understanding the changing habits of NFL fans has become particularly important given the cost of NFL rights. A recent study found the league’s media rights pacts are valued at nearly $110 billion over 11 years, with potential opt-outs in 2029, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan.

The survey found that many fans are doing more than just watching, they’re actively shaping the game-day experience. From shopping in real time to engaging across multiple platforms, today’s NFL audience is blending technology and interactivity to redefine what it means to be a fan, the researchers explained.

That means, the second screen has become just as important as the TV screen. Roughly two-thirds of total NFL viewers (63%), and especially multicultural NFL viewers (66%), engage with live social media content by viewing real-time posts or sharing reactions related to a show they are watching, according to Horowitz Research’s latest annual report, State of Media, Entertainment and Tech: Viewing Behaviors 2025.

At the same time, multi-angle options such as alternate views, player perspectives, and drone footage are gaining popularity among nearly half (44%) of multicultural NFL viewers, compared to 39% of total NFL viewers.

Real-time engagement is also turning sports viewers into active participants and consumers, the study stressed.

About half (51%) of total NFL viewers, and nearly as many multicultural NFL viewers (48%), shop for sports merchandise while watching live games. Meanwhile, gaming is becoming a central part of the viewing experience, with nearly half (48%) of multicultural NFL viewers and 43% of total NFL viewers engaging with TV content through video games or other interactive gaming features related to live sports events.

The study noted that sports programming has always been an important acquisition and retention tool for traditional media platforms (cable, satellite, and broadcast) and that dynamic is playing a growing role in the streaming industry. Horowitz data show that NFL viewers, and especially multicultural NFL viewers, over-index on using all types of streaming services.

YouTube’s first ever global broadcast of an NFL game set a record for most concurrent viewers of a live stream on YouTube, with a global average minute audience (AMA) of over 17.3 million

The game, which featured the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers live from São Paulo, Brazil, attracted an 16.2 million AMA in the U.S. according to Nielsen and 1.1 million. outside of the U.S.

Those numbers were up from 14.1 million who watched the game from São Paulo, Brazil last year on Peacock. But Peacock is a subscription service while the YouTube stream was free.

A YouTube blog reported that “fans tuned in from over 230 countries and territories around the globe…We partnered with the NFL to bring a uniquely interactive and creator-driven viewing experience. The broadcast featured exclusive content from MrBeast, Haley Kalil, Michelle Khare and Marques Brownlee; commentary from Deestroying from the sidelines; pre-game and post-game hosting from Kay Adams, Peter Overzet and NFL Legends Cam Newton, Derek Carr, Brandon Marshall, and Tyrann Mathieu; a dazzling halftime show from KAROL G; and Watch With streams and commentary from a stacked roster of creators including IShowSpeed, Tom Grossi, Robegrill, SKabeche, CazéTV and many more.”

PHILADELPHIA—NBC Sports will present tonight’s NFL Kickoff Game between the ’25 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys on Peacock in Dolby Atmos immersive audio.

The broadcaster also plans to stream weekly regular-season “Sunday Night Football” games in Dolby Atmos, a first for any NFL streamer.

“Peacock is the leader in live streaming because we’ve been focused since day one on providing our customers with an innovative, high-quality viewing experience that pushes the industry forward,” said Patrick Miceli, chief technology officer for Global Streaming & NBCUniversal Media Group.

“Peacock being the first streamer to support Dolby Atmos for NFL games adds to a list of sports streaming accomplishments that we’re very proud of, including our award-winning Olympics hub, record-setting NFL exclusives, all that we have coming for the NBA, and much more.”

The news follows Gray Media’s Super Bowl broadcast from eight of its NextGen TV Fox affiliates in February, which offered enhanced coverage of the championship game. The stations launched some combination of Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR), HDR 10+ and Dolby Atmos prior to the game, including WVUE in New Orleans, the game’s host city.

More information is available on the Dolby website.

NEW YORK—In news that highlights the importance of the NFL and sports for the TV and streaming industry, NBCUniversal is reporting record revenue for its 20th season of “Sunday Night Football,” with overall revenue increasing across all platforms. In addition, the company also announced it has sold out of all ad inventory for Super Bowl LX, which will be presented on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo on Feb. 8, 2026.

In addition to being sold out of the Super Bowl, NBCUniversal said it has sold out 90% of its separate NFL inventory.

The company did not provide specific revenue figures.

“Coming off of the strongest sports Upfront in our company’s history, Super Bowl LX has generated extraordinary interest from brands and allowed us to sell out of our ad inventory earlier than ever,” Peter Lazarus, executive vice president, NBC Sports & Olympics, Advertising and Partnerships, said. “The unprecedented demand from advertisers across the Super Bowl and our 20th season of ‘Sunday Night Football’ has made this upcoming NFL season our highest-grossing to date. With a monumental year ahead, we are proud of the incredible momentum thus far and are excited to offer both fans and brands an unrivaled slate of sports programming starting with NFL kick off.”

With advertisers leaning into live sports more than ever before, NBCUniversal also reported that it saw tremendous demand from advertisers for the Super Bowl, with packaged goods, entertainment, finance and alcohol remaining the top categories, while CPG, pharma, entertainment and QSR [quick service restaurants] continue to increase their spend. Digital investments in the Super Bowl also increased by 20% since the last Super Bowl on NBC, with more brands taking a 360-degree approach to advertising within the upcoming spectacle, the company reported.

It also noted that for the 20th season of “SNF,” NBCUniversal is welcoming more than 150 partners into its programming—nearly 40 of whom are new. Auto, insurance, retail, tech and QSR continue to be core categories spending across “SNF,” with pharma, finance, and tech increasing investments year over year. The company has also sold out of all key sponsorships for its NFL lineup with Toyota sponsoring Halftime.

The strength of NFL ad revenue comes in advance of number of high-profile sporting events in 2026. NBCU will be offering fans the Super Bowl, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and the NBA All-Star Game in a 17-day span this upcoming February.

The momentum continues that spring and summer with the WNBA, the NBA Playoffs, and the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup on Telemundo, followed by the WNBA Finals and Big Ten Championship Game in the fall.

A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experiences digitally as TV station owners count on the sport’s popularity to help them weather a weakened ad market.

The challenges were highlighted by The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger during an early August earnings call, when he discussed the now-launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service, which encompasses all content delivered over the seven ESPN cable channels and online assets, including ESPN+.

While stressing that Disney views what it’s doing with ESPN as part of its TV business, Iger acknowledged, “the features and functionality of the ESPN app will have more on them or in the app than obviously any linear channel can provide. It will really be a sports fan’s dream in terms of everything they’ll be able to do and watch on that channel.”

ESPN-NFL Deal
Adding to the drama, the NFL and Disney also announced a landmark deal that, if approved, would give the league an unprecedented 10% stake in a media partner in exchange for ESPN’s takeover of NFL Network, with the addition of more games and other benefits. A taste of what’s in the offing on the ESPN service, which launched Aug. 21, can be found on the NFL+ streaming service, which remains under the NFL’s control, delivering all its games, but is available in the deal with ESPN for bundling with the latter’s streaming service.

It happens that the advanced in-game betting, personalized fantasy team features and other data-rich enhancements available on NFL+ are supported by technology from Genius Sports, which has also been supporting features on ESPN+. While declining to go into details of what his company is bringing to the new streaming service, Matt Fleckenstein, chief product officer at Genius Sports, says the arc of development on ESPN and NFL+ is parallel.

Specifics are “just a question of whether we’re working directly with NFL+ or ESPN,” he says.

The Genius BetVision app—a single-screen display of betting options supported by all the major sports-betting books, with video lagging just two to three seconds behind real time—is an especially noteworthy example of game-changing aspects to what ESPN might be offering.

With nearly all major pro and college football games now available on streaming services, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the broadcasters whose distribution via cable, satellite and OTA accounts for the lion’s share of the football audience. As they’ve done before, station group owners in their latest earnings reports cited football as a significant counterforce to economic headwinds impacting ad revenues.

During Sinclair’s Q2 earnings call in early August, Chief Operating Officer Rob Weisbord, acknowledging the overall advertising environment “remains rough,” said that with “larger buys coming down the pipeline … we’re cautiously optimistic as we move through the summer months into September with the return of college football and NFL.”

Building on the popularity of football, Sinclair has launched four podcasts devoted to college football programs at Ohio State, Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, and “will shortly be announcing a landmark events and media partnership” devoted to “producing original content and brand activations,” says Chris King, Sinclair’s vice president of investor relations. This will include a “nationwide tailgate tour during the upcoming college football season” and an exclusive event at February’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., he said.

Scripps’ Sports Strategy
E.W. Scripps also touted the importance of football to its second-half expectations following first-half revenue performance that was down just 2% from levels reached in a national election year, marking a “best-of-class” performance that tied “directly back to our sports strategy,” according to Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs. While “there’s a lot of hesitancy out there” in the overall second-half advertising picture, Combs voices “optimism around our ability to monetize football as it starts to kind of roll back in here.”

One aspect to that optimism relates to Scripps Sports’ longstanding relationship with the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference, which consists of 10 full and two affiliate member universities in eight Western states. The contract with the Big Sky, renewed for another five years in March, makes Scripps responsible for producing and broadcasting at least 12 conference games a year over its seven Montana stations involving either or both of the state’s conference members, Montana State and Montana University, James Raffety, Scripps Sports senior director of sports production, says.

Scripps is generating coverage that “brings big market, big production to FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] football,” Rafferty says. And Scripps also benefits from the fact that the Big Sky relationship runs deeper than basic game production, he says, with the broadcaster acting as league supporter in event productions like the annual Big Sky Hall of Fame banquet and the Media Day season kickoff. It’s a relationship that goes to the heart of Montana culture with the broadcast of the annual “Brawl of the Wild” showdown between MU and MSU, which Rafferty says draws the biggest statewide audience for any TV program other than the Super Bowl.

Local Ties
Many other station owners benefit from relationships they’ve built with colleges at regional and local levels, in some cases enabling game coverage not supplied by the national networks and, in others, resulting in ancillary programming with games broadcast nationally. Gray Media, for example, is leveraging multiple university partnerships with its launch of regional sports networks, says Robert Folliard, the station group’s senior vice president of government relations and distribution.

“This is a strategic initiative for the company to get into local sports where there’s a ton of advertising and sponsorship opportunities,” Folliard says. “We provide the only platform that can get them into every home.”

On another front, Gray with six other partners in the NextGen TV Pearl TV alliance will be broadcasting college and NFL games in HDR-enhanced 4K, marking a major advance in viewing experience over what consumers typically get through cable and online services. With FCC Chair Brendan Carr voicing enthusiasm for NextGen TV, it looks like “all signals are a go” for expeditious transition to ATSC 3.0, Folliard says, which means TV stations will be in a much stronger position to hold football fans with the combination of superior signal quality and OTA access to interactive game playing and real-time betting.

Nobody is doing more than Fox Sports to keep all its boats afloat, including the new Fox One DTC streaming service, by delivering superior viewing experiences across all affiliated TV and digital outlets. On the big home screen, whether NFL games are delivered via pay TV, OTA or online, Fox is tapping things it introduced at this year’s Super Bowl to enhance the lean-back experience, says Michael Davies, executive vice president of field operations at Fox Sports.

“We’re looking at picking up where we left off,” Davies says. He cites wider use of things like dual SkyCams, Lidar technology for nonobstructive on-screen placements of AR-embellished graphics displays and officials’ Hawk-Eye play-review systems to help commentators with real-time analysis. At some point, Fox Sports anticipates embellishing some NFL broadcasts with output from field-based 180-degree cameras that Fox partner Cosm has deployed to support immersive off-site theatrical viewing of game action.

A new study from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights the importance of football in the U.S. TV and streaming industries, with new data showing that it is by far the most popular sport. and a new analysis predicting the NFL will be hauling in record media-rights revenue for its 2025-26 season.

Overall, broadcasters and streamers have inked agreements worth nearly $110 billion for NFL media rights over 11 years, the S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan study estimated. This more than doubles the previous agreements, showcasing the league's strong media presence and financial growth, the study said.

The S&P study also stressed that the league is strategically focusing on media rights opt-outs in 2029 and expanding its international presence to achieve NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's goal of generating $25 billion in revenue by 2027.

As part of those deals, Netflix and YouTube are expanding their NFL coverage, with Netflix televising two Christmas games annually from 2024 to 2026, valued at $150 million per year. YouTube will stream its first exclusive game this season and has entered a multiyear deal for an annual Super Bowl Flag Football game, the study noted.

The deals are also crucial for U.S. broadcasters. While NFL viewership saw a 2.2% decline in domestic viewership in 2024, the league's media presence grew with new rights partnerships and increased streaming engagement, maintaining its strong appeal among U.S. audiences, the research firm said.

Another major development is the recent NFL-ESPN deal, which marks a significant shift in the sports media industry. As part of that agreement, ESPN acquired NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and NFL fantasy football assets in exchange for the NFL taking a 10% stake in ESPN. This deal enhances ESPN's offerings and strengthens its position in NFL broadcasting.

With the start of another football season, a new carriage dispute has arisen.

This time it’s Fox, which has been unable to renew a new content partnership with YouTube TV. In an email sent to subscribers on Monday, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) said: “[I]f we are unable to reach an agreement with Fox by 5 PM ET on August 27, 2025, their content may become unavailable. If this happens, this will impact channels like the Fox Broadcast Network, Fox News, and Fox Sports, as well as any Library recordings you have from these channels.”

YouTube said it hopes to reach a mutual agreement “without passing on additional costs to our subscribers.” It also said it will give a $10 credit to subscribers if Fox’s content becomes unavailable “for an extended period of time.”

Fox has launched a “keepfox.com” website designed to keep viewers updated and issued the following statement:

“While Fox remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with Google’s YouTube TV, we are disappointed that Google continually exploits its outsized influence by proposing terms that are out of step with the marketplace,“ Fox said. ”We are alerting FOX viewers who are YouTube TV subscribers that they could lose access to much of their favorite news, sports, entertainment and local station programming unless Google engages in a meaningful way soon.”

As the costs of sports rights continue to soar, the networks are using the popularity of football as a cudgel against pay-TV providers who are also losing viewers to cord-cutting. TV carriage disputes have become fairly common during the late summer, early fall time period, during the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons; in 2023, Charter Communications and Dish settled their disputes with Disney at the beginning of the season; Nexstar Media Group and Verizon Communications had a similar conflict in 2022.

As of the beginning of 2025, YouTube TV was estimated to have 9.4 million subscribers, making it the fourth-largest U.S. pay-TV provider after Charter, Comcast and DirecTV. ‌

NEW YORK and BURBANK, Calif. —ESPN and the NFL have reached a wide-ranging series of deals that includes an agreement for ESPN to acquire NFL Network and other media assets in exchange for the league taking a 10% stake in ESPN.

In addition, ESPN and the league announced agreements for media rights and content distribution that will be important for ESPN’s upcoming launch of its direct-to-consumer app.

The wide-ranging series of agreements involving both equity and media rights have been speculated about ever since Disney indicated it was looking for potential partners in ESPN in the run-up to the launch of its DTC app, which will go live Aug. 21.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CNBC estimated that stake in ESPN could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion.

As part of the deals, ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., will acquire NFL Network and certain other media assets owned and controlled by the NFL (including NFL’s linear RedZone Channel, and NFL Fantasy) in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN.

In addition to the sale of NFL Network, the NFL and ESPN also reported that they have entered into a second non-binding agreement for the NFL to license to ESPN certain NFL content and other intellectual property to be used by NFL Network and other assets, the league and ESPN reported.

The deals come as ESPN announced it would launch its $29.99-per-month on Aug. 21.

“Today’s announcement paves the way for the world’s leading sports media brand and America’s most popular sport to deliver an even more compelling experience for NFL fans, in a way that only ESPN and Disney can,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said. “Commissioner [Roger] Goodell and the NFL have built outstanding media assets, and these transactions will add to consumer choice, provide viewers with even greater convenience and quality, and expand the breadth and value proposition of Disney’s streaming ecosystem.”

Added Goodell: “Since its launch in 2003, NFL Network has provided millions of fans unprecedented access to the sport they love. Whether it was debuting ‘Thursday Night Football,’ televising the Combine, or telling incredible football stories through original shows and breaking news, NFL Network has delivered. The Network’s sale to ESPN will build on this remarkable legacy, providing more NFL football for more fans in new and innovative ways.”

In addition, ESPN and the NFL have reached new licensing agreements, extending ESPN’s NFL Draft rights and, separately, adding NFL programming and content to ESPN’s upcoming DTC service, as well as to Disney+. The agreement also includes the opportunity for fans to bundle ESPN’s DTC service with NFL+ Premium.

Those licensing agreements include a multiyear extension of ESPN’s rights to the NFL draft. In addition, beginning with the 2026 draft, Disney+ and Hulu will also stream ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes’ trio of draft presentations. All offerings will be available on ESPN’s DTC service. Additional alternate NFL draft presentations from ESPN will be available on the same streaming platforms, as will a new daily show dedicated to the draft. The new show, which will air on ESPN2 most days, will launch the day following the Super Bowl and continue through that year’s draft. More highlights:

Separately, ESPN and the NFL have reached an agreement to expand the NFL experience across ESPN’s DTC service and Disney+. The agreement includes rights for additional NFL content for ESPN as well as robust interactive features to deepen the experience for fans. ESPN’s DTC offering will also stream select out-of-market NFL preseason games during the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

In addition, ESPN will also be able to sell and bundle NFL+ Premium, the League’s DTC service that launched in 2022, with ESPN’s DTC service, which gives fans the ability to watch NFL Network and NFL RedZone through the NFL+ Premium offering. ESPN described the additional rights and features that ESPN will offer as follows:

• Highlights for ESPN’s new, innovative, and personalized SportsCenter for You, and the industry-leading ESPN Fantasy Football platform.
• Fans can utilize the new ESPN App multiview feature while watching ESPN’s NFL games and shows through the ESPN App, such as the traditional “Monday Night Football” telecast and “MNF with Peyton and Eli” at the same time, or multiple games when “MNF” has two games on the same night.
• Deeper customization with enhanced interactive features that engage fans watching and following the NFL, including the ability to view personalized ESPN Fantasy Football team performance, legalized sports betting information and bet tracking, and integrated game stats on their connected television or mobile device.
• Exclusive to ESPN DTC subscribers, a video-on-demand “Monday Night Football.”
• Additional NFL content on Disney+, including the potential for select NFL simulcasts for Disney+ subscribers and the inclusion of incremental highlight rights within shows like “Vibe Check” and SportsCenter+.

ATLANTA—Gray Media and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers have announced that for the first time three Panthers preseason games will air live in Spanish to Gray’s Telemundo audiences across the Carolinas.

Starting this August, Spanish-speaking fans will be able to catch every Panthers preseason game on six Gray Telemundo affiliate stations in South Carolina and Eastern North Carolina.

The three games are: Friday, August 8, Panthers vs. Cleveland Browns; Saturday, August 16,, Panthers at Houston Texans; and Thursday, August 21 Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Spanish-language broadcasts of the Panthers preseason games are an extension of the partnership between Gray's WHNS Greenville, S.C., known on-air as Fox Carolina, Gray-owned Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Network and the Panthers announced in April.

“This partnership with the Carolina Panthers marks an exciting milestone for our Telemundo affiliates and the communities we proudly serve across the Carolinas,” said Susan Sim Oh, senior vice president of strategy and operations, Gray Telemundo Affiliate Station Group. “This is about more than football — it’s about building inclusive experiences that resonate with our Spanish-speaking viewers. We’re especially proud that Fox Carolina (WHNS) helped lead the way in forging this first-of-its-kind partnership, bringing Panthers football to even more households in a way that honors culture, language, and community.”

WHNS-WDKT general manager Bryce Caldwell added, “The Carolina Panthers are a tremendous partner, and we couldn’t be more excited about this expansion of offerings to our Spanish-speaking audiences!”

Telemundo stations airing Panthers preseason games include:

• WDKT—Greenville, S.C-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C. -Anderson, S.C.
• WTES—Columbia, S.C.
• WZCH—Charleston, S.C.
• WXIV—Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• WTWL—Wilmington, N.C.
• WTGC—Greenville-New Bern, N.C.

LAS VEGAS—After playing in the NFL for 13 years, Jason McCourty had been through the rigors — including the postgame locker room routine.

“Someone was always asking me the questions,” McCourty said.

The transition to a successful broadcast career, though, was a whole new challenge.

To help make that jump, the NFL’s Broadcast Bootcamp—now in its 16th year—serves players looking to move from the field to behind the mic. The program has evolved into a peer-to-peer environment, where the league’s network partners act as instructors.

McCourty entered the bootcamp in 2021. He received critiques from, among others, legendary former “Sunday Night Football” producer Fred Gaudelli.

Gaudelli would scroll through a tablet, pointing out missteps. Years of experience playing cornerback and safety offered little advantage when it came to breaking down what just happened on the offensive line—in a 10-second window.

“You’re in there getting coached,” McCourty said.

There are only 24 spots available in the bootcamp each year. Tracy Perlman, the NFL’s senior vice president of player operations, said that cap is intentional—it ensures players receive both reps and consistent feedback.

“It takes as much to be successful at broadcasting as it did for these guys to play,” Perlman said.

The bootcamp was rigorous. But in the end, McCourty—who spent seven years with the Tennessee Titans and was a member of the New England Patriots’ 2018 Super Bowl championship team — came out of the process with three job offers.

Sandy Nunez, VP of on-air talent management at NFL Network, looks for current and former players to develop. She said McCourty checked many boxes. “Energy, style, personality — they’re all important,” Nunez said.

But commitment might be the top of the list. That includes preparation and being a strong part of a broadcast crew. “Great team member, great talent,” she said.

McCourty went on to host NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” for two years, succeeding Nate Burleson after he left to host “CBS This Morning.” At the same time, McCourty added radio color analyst duties for CBS and Westwood One.

One of the tougher challenges for a player transitioning into broadcasting is offering honest critiques of former teammates still active in the league—including McCourty’s brother Devin. “The fans watching, they want the truth,” McCourty said.

Now, McCourty is an analyst for one of CBS’s weekly NFL broadcast teams. Not everyone will make the same leap. That’s where Perlman sees success stories at the local level.

She pointed to former players like John Abraham, now working with the Atlanta Falcons, and Ray Lucas, a former host on SportsNet New York’s Jets postgame coverage.

Former players also have access to information from the NFL Players Association—including internal briefings—that other analysts might not. “They’re going to bring something to the table not everyone can bring,” Perlman said.

Many still carry status in their hometowns, which Perlman believes opens doors to media opportunities—even in places without obvious NFL ties.

And those opportunities extend across different types of media. McCourty experienced firsthand how the approach differs when broadcasting games on the radio versus on TV. “If someone’s listening to you, they’re probably not watching the game,” he said. That calls for more vivid, descriptive analysis.

On TV, McCourty said, sometimes the best thing you can do is let the action speak for itself.

The combination of radio and TV repetitions—just like practice before the game—has helped him become more comfortable with his broadcasts. The rigor is what’s helping players like McCourty thrive in their second act.

Copyright 2025 NAB

LONDON—Sports entertainment platform DAZN said the second season of NFL Game Pass on DAZN saw significant growth, with paid subscribers growing by 23% year-over-year during the 2024-25 season and free users up by 47% year-over-year.

NFL Game Pass is the only way for fans outside of the United States to watch all NFL games, including the world’s largest annual sporting event, the Super Bowl, which had over 95 million minutes streamed from more than 200 geographies this year.

“The NFL’s media distribution strategy has long been a key part of our growth and success,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "As we look to become a global brand, providing fans around the world access to our games is incredibly important. In just two years as our Game Pass partner, DAZN has brought first-class technology and innovation to the product, providing a better viewing experience for our fans and helping to grow our game.”

In the second year of a 10-year deal, DAZN also boosted the NFL’s growth internationally by expanding the distribution of NFL Game Pass. During the last NFL season, DAZN launched NFL Game Pass on Amazon Prime Channels in six markets.

Focusing on accessibility, DAZN also launched the “Home of NFL” last year, a feature that lets fans dive deep into teams, individual game weeks, and specific content, creating a more streamlined navigation experience.

Since NFL Game Pass migrated onto DAZN, the platform reported that more games are available in more languages. DAZN now delivers 17 games per week localized in five different languages (compared to two per week previously). For casual and emerging fans around the world, DAZN now provides one free game per week globally.

In 2024, DAZN also introduced the Ultimate Tier for NFL Game Pass, unlocking new features and enhancing the viewing experience for customers. With Multiview, for example, subscribers to this tier could watch several games concurrently, ensuring that they didn’t miss a moment of the live action, the service reported.

Meanwhile for this year’s Super Bowl, customers who signed up for an Ultimate Tier plan experienced the event, when watching the authentic U.S. broadcast, in High Dynamic Range (HDR), which enhances the brightness, clarity and richness of streamed content. Ultimate Tier subscribers were also able to stream Super Bowl on more devices concurrently.

“DAZN is proud to partner with the NFL and support one of the world’s largest sports properties in reaching new audiences internationally,” DAZN CEO Shay Segev said. “DAZN continues to elevate the NFL Game Pass experience, launching features and enhancing the viewing experience with every year of our long-term collaboration. We are excited to celebrate the culmination of a successful second season of our partnership, where we’ve brought the drama and passion of NFL action to even more fans around the world.”

The NFL is predicted to become the world' s most valuable sport in terms of media rights revenue by 2030 according to a new report from Rethink TV, which estimates that global media rights revenue (MRR) for the Top 17 sports leagues will grow to $96.3 billion by 2035, more than four times its 2015 total.

Despite surging valuations, the sports media market is at a critical crossroad, the researcher said. The Pay TV rights holders that once underpinned sports broadcasting are rapidly eroding, but the transition to Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) streaming remains fraught with technological and financial hurdles. OTT players like Amazon and Netflix have driven record-breaking deals, yet even DAZN, the most aggressive pureplay sports streamer, is still struggling to achieve profitability.

By 2030, the market will hit $73 billion, with American Football set to overtake the combined MRR of the world’s top nine Soccer leagues for the first time in history. These two sports, along with Baseball, will further cement their lead as the three most valuable sports in terms of MRR, Rethink said.

The shift to D2C streaming remains constrained by infrastructure limitations and escalating content costs. While sports leagues are eager to take control of their distribution, few are ready to match the reliability and scale of legacy broadcast networks. Multicast ABR and Open Caching solutions remain in early stages, delaying full-scale adoption of D2C platforms from rights owners.

OTT giants like Amazon and Netflix continue to sign multi-billion-dollar deals, but sustainability is questionable as ad-based models fail to offset soaring rights costs. Hybrid models are expected to dominate the next decade, with leagues selling partial rights while experimenting with their own D2C platforms.

At the same time, shifting consumer habits pose new challenges. Younger audiences increasingly favor short-form, on-demand highlights over full-match broadcasts, forcing leagues to rethink their monetization strategies. This transition is already underway, with sports documentaries, behind-the-scenes content, and interactive digital experiences becoming key revenue drivers, Rethink said.

NEW ORLEANS—Each broadcast network responsible for the production personnel, technologies and distribution deployed to present the Super Bowl takes the opportunity to tell the game’s story in its own unique way.

Job one for this year’s steward, Fox Sports, is to bring its personalities, such as former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, to the table with the best tools available to tell that story, Fox Sports Executive Vice President of Technical and Field Operations Michael Davies said.

(Kickoff coverage of the Feb. 9 Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles begins at 6:30 p.m. EST. Fox Sports’ pregame starts at 1 p.m. EST. The game will air on Fox Television Stations and affiliates, as well as Fox Deportes and Telemundo. Streamers can watch the game via Tubi or FuboTV, with a free trial.)

Brady, who will be calling his first Super Bowl as an analyst, will have at his disposal an elaborate high SkyCam setup based on the new Sony HDC-P50A, a 4K box camera running at 240 frames per second. Equipped with both optical and digital zooms, the camera becomes what Davies describes as “a variety of cameras all in one.”

“One is an aerial All 22 [referring to a camera that captures all offensive and defensive players in the same shot],” Davies said. “You’ll see Tom [Brady] Telestrate on this thing all of the time because it’s what analysts want to see. They want to see everything in terms of how the plays are unfolding so they can explain what’s happening from an X’s and O’s point of view.”

“High SkyCams have been done for years,” Davies said. “Frankly, I don’t really know if we even knew why we were using them. But the one thing that the high SkyCam did was it sometimes really got in the way of how we use the low SkyCam.”

To avoid that, Fox Sports will position its high SkyCam between 55 feet and 90 feet above the field and its low SkyCam, a Sony HDC-P50, 12 feet to 35 feet off the surface. Equipped with both optical and high-resolution digital zoom, the high SkyCam can be zoomed into areas of interest and prevent “everything from looking like ants,” he said.

“Putting that [zoom capability] on the high SkyCam has been immeasurably valuable, and we tested this all the way back in the pre-season in Santa Clara with a prototype from Sony,” said Davies, adding the broadcaster brought it back for the end of the season.

Fox Sports will complement the SkyCam setup with the Sony Hawk-Eye system to do zoom-cropping. Hawk-Eye will give the Fox Sports analysts the visuals needed to discuss and explain what’s happened on the field, he added.

Camera Totals and More
Fox Sports will cover the pregame and game with 149 cameras, including 27 super slow-motion cameras, 24 robotic cameras, 23 high-resolution cameras, 12 wireless cameras and others. But that number can be a bit misleading, Davies said.

“When you get to these crazy camera totals, there are some cameras that just won’t get a tally. It just won’t happen,” he said. “They’re there just in case. Just in case that specific play—that specific little occurrence like whether the ball hit the ground or a toe crossed the line—happens.”

Fox Sports will produce the game in 1080p high dynamic range (HDR) and broadcast it in 4K HDR. Several Fox Sports distributors such as Charter Communications’ Spectrum, Comcast’s Xfinity TV, Sling TV, Verizon FiOS, YouTube TV and others, will carry the entire broadcast, including pregame, halftime and postgame, in 4K.

As with other live events, Fox Sports will produce in HDR using Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). “That’s basically what’s available now,” Davies said. “Somewhere downstream there is a conversion to PQ [Perceptual Quantizer].”

Dolby and Comcast issued a joint press release earlier this week saying that Xfinity TV customers and Xfinity Stream App users will be able to watch in both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio as part of Comcast’s new Enhanced 4K offering on X1.

Regardless of what happens downstream, Davies said the important thing HDR production must account for is that most viewers continue to watch in standard dynamic range. “It’s a matter of being able to shade in HDR but also make sure the SDR is preserved,” he said.

Fox Sports is also working with panamorphic cameras from COSM, a company specializing in immersive fan viewing experiences at its Dallas and Los Angeles venues. (COSM Los Angeles will present the Super Bowl.)

“What we do with these cameras is region of interest,” he said. Two COSM cameras will be placed on carts for shots of the sidelines and benches—a great application for the specialty cameras.

“Increasingly there are things you might want to see on the benches, but you don’t have dedicated cameras, because the cameras are all interested in what’s happening on the field,” he said.

Fox Sports will de-warp the fish-eye lens effect from the COSM cameras and pan around the video to find 16x9 areas of interest for air.

COSM cameras will also be used in all of the pylons that mark off the corners of both end zones. While the resolution of those cameras is not quite high enough for use at the COSM dome venues, the 60 fps cameras have the ability to interpolate frames to make replays smooth enough to be used, he said

“It’s really bleeding-edge stuff that we’re doing with these COSM cameras,” he said. “But the result is there’s not one square inch of the field that isn’t covered with a camera—not only that but covered well.”

Augmented Reality Graphics and Drones
For the Super Bowl, Fox Sports will use a newly developed solution for Augmented Reality graphics.

Combining a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system from Kudan, SkyTrax graphics tracking and some Fox Sports-developed software, the solution solves a problem that has plagued AR graphics that are smaller than full screen, Davies said.

“The LIDAR informs a system that is engaged with the [low] SkyCam telemetry system,” said Davies, adding that doing so increases the accuracy of positioning data—a crucial element to rock-solid augmented graphics.

“The problems in the past with reduced tracking accuracy gave rise to the possibility of shaking or mistracking,“ he said. ”The illusion of having a three-dimensional graphic on the field was completely broken when it starts not tracking accurately with the camera.”

As a result, the only safe use of augmented reality graphics was to go full-screen. “What this translates into is more confidence in being able to pop these graphics on and getting away from the full-screen graphics that take viewers out of the game,“ Davies said. “This allows us to put three-dimensional graphics in the game so viewers never actually leave the stadium and, in that way, stay more engaged.”

The broadcaster will also deploy drones as part of its coverage of the event. Given the close proximity of landmarks like Bourbon Street and the French Quarter to the stadium, drone footage will be used to give viewers the feeling of being in New Orleans.

Fox Sports is tapping the airborne expertise of Beverly Hills Aerials as it has in the past for the Daytona 500, the World Series and its last Super Bowl, to fly the drones and ensure their operation complies with league rules and local law enforcement, he said.

Shots from the drones will be used “for everything from features to added color in support of interviews and events,” Davies said.

While broadcasters have often deployed the television production equivalent of a secret weapon to cover the Super Bowl, Davies said that approach doesn’t fit in with his orientation to covering the game.

“If you bring some esoteric thing out there and that is only used once for the Super Bowl and the production team has never had a chance to use it, it’s difficult to wedge it in,” he said. “Frankly, it’s unfair to give that to a production team and just say, ‘OK, now you’ve got this thing, and you’ve got to use it and make it part of the story.’ ”

Davies is confident that whether it’s the addition of the new LIDAR technology, the COSM cameras, the high SkyCam or any of the other tech that will go into game coverage, the production team is familiar with it and ready to make it a part of the Fox Sports telling of the Super Bowl story.

PHILADELPHIA and SAN FRANCISCO.—In a first for Super Bowl coverage, Comcast and Dolby have announced that Fox’s coverage of the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 will be delivered in both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

The experience will be available to Xfinity TV customers as part of Comcast’s new Enhanced 4K offering on X1 and on the Xfinity Stream App.

“Enhanced 4K” provides customers with an unmatched viewing experience with the best picture and audio quality delivered to the home in the fastest way possible, according to Comcast, so the action customers see in their living room is only seconds behind the game as it unfolds in New Orleans.

“The Super Bowl is another example of how Xfinity is redefining the sports-viewing experience through innovations in our network and with the latest innovations from partners like Dolby,” Comcast Vice President, Sports Entertainment, Connectivity and Platforms Vito Forlenza said. “With the clearest picture quality and the most-realistic audio possible, we’re offering customers a viewing experience they can’t get anywhere else for the biggest live sporting event of the year. Plus, we’re delivering it as fast as possible over our state-of-the-art network so customers can feel like they’re witnessing every exciting moment at the same time as the fans in the Superdome.”

“Dolby and Comcast share a long history of delivering unparalleled, first-of-their-kind experiences to fans, and today marks another milestone in our journey to transform the future of live sports,” said Jason Power, vice president, AV ecosystem, Dolby Laboratories. “Together, we continue to raise the bar by offering Xfinity customers an immersive experience that brings the sights and sounds of the game to life like never before.”

In another first, Comcast also announced that Xfinity customers can also enjoy this 4K viewing experience with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos through the Xfinity Stream app, which is available on compatible Dolby-enabled streaming devices and TVs.

First launched for last year’s Paris Summer Olympics, Comcast explained that “Enhanced 4K” is a new quality standard to live sports delivered in 4K on X1. It leverages Comcast’s network technology to deliver the best-possible 4K video, ultra-low latency, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Comcast also noted that Enhanced 4K joins a host of other immersive and interactive features on X1. These features include: multiview, where customers can watch up to four events at once on the same screen; aggregated sports hubs, which make finding any game fast and easy; and Odds Zone, a companion experience where fans can watch and wager with leading sportsbooks directly on TV.

DENVER—Digital marketing agency Adtaxi has unveiled a new survey showing the Super Bowl has become a multiplatform experience, with almost 70% of Americans utilizing an average of two or more additional media platforms to engage in related content.

Adtaxi’s 2025 Super Bowl Survey also found that almost half of Americans choose streaming and connected TV over cable and broadcast options.

Another notable finding is that in the run-up to the Feb. 9 game pitting the Philadelphia Eagles against the Kansas City Chiefs, set to air on Fox, more adults said they were interested in the Super Bowl ads than the game itself or the halftime show.

“With the recent increase in data surrounding ‘double-screening,’ it is increasingly crucial for marketers to know and utilize the fact that the majority of Americans plan to utilize both their ‘big screen’ and ‘little screen’ while watching this year’s Super Bowl,” said Adtaxi director of research Murry Woronoff. “Social media has emerged as the top secondary media choice for audiences primarily using broadcast, cable, and radio. Marketing plans need to include both typical viewing options and social media campaigns to effectively reach intended audiences.”

Other key findings include:

• Game-Day Enthusiasm: Super Bowl ads once again reign supreme for pre-game anticipation, capturing the interest of 68% of adults, surpassing both the game and the halftime show. Interest in the game itself is firm among men (50%) and upper-income adults (47%), while women (38%) and younger adults under 45 (39%) demonstrate the strongest interest in the halftime show.
• Platform Audiences: The Super Bowl is no longer confined to traditional TV viewing. With 77% of respondents indicating they will watch, listen, or follow the event, half will “tune in” using digital video (connected TV or streaming services). This surpasses traditional cable and broadcast TV’s combined 32% share of the total audience.
• Secondary Engagement: Seven in 10 Super Bowl viewers will engage with secondary media platforms beyond their primary source. Social media has emerged as a top secondary media choice for viewers of Digital (46%), Cable and Broadcast TV (30%) viewers. Only 31% of respondents intend to only utilize one content source.
• The Continued Rise of Digital Video: Overall, 69% of viewers will incorporate digital video into their overall consumption on Super Bowl Sunday. 71% of audience members plan to use digital video as their primary source of viewing, while 29% will use it as a secondary source.
• Big-Game Betting: Adults who plan to place a Super Bowl-related wager represent a valuable opportunity. Among bettors, two-thirds (68%) anticipate spending under $200—nearly half will bet under $50. Only 13% are expected to wager $500 or more. As for platforms? More adults cited DraftKings when asked about placing sports bets, followed by FanDuel in second and BetMGM in third.

“The findings of our 2025 Super Bowl Survey show the increasing fragmentation in consumer media habits, allowing brands to capitalize on its multifaceted appeal,” said Chris Loretto, executive vice president of Adtaxi. “As the trends toward cord-cutting continue and social media platforms become more integral to live events, we see the Super Bowl’s distribution and engagement strategies shifting even more toward online. We predict the future bringing more personalized and targeted advertising, leveraging data analytics to tailor commercials to the viewer’s preferences—possibly in real-time.”

The full report is available to purchase here.

NEW YORK—Heavy viewing during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays helped increase overall viewing by 4% month-over-month in December, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report. That report, which covered the period of Nov. 25 through Dec. 29, also boosted YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video to record viewing levels.

On top of a 7.6% increase in November, streaming viewership climbed another 9% in December and the category secured a new Gauge record with 43.4% of total TV watch time. In addition, YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video all hit record viewing levels.

In contrast, broadcast viewing accounted for 22.4% of total TV viewing while cable held a 23.8% of December TV watch time for a combined share of 46.2% of TV viewing.

Nielsen’s The Gauge reported Thanksgiving and Christmas accounted for two of the four days in the interval to exceed 100 billion TV viewing minutes. In total, 2024 included nine days with more than 100 billion TV viewing minutes, compared with 13 in 2023.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Day also hosted the six most-watched telecasts of the month. These included the three Thanksgiving NFL games, led by Giants-Cowboys on Fox with 38.5 million viewers, followed at No. 4 by NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with 23.8 million viewers. The fifth and sixth top telecasts belonged to Netflix in its NFL debut on Christmas Day, whose two games each drew over 23 million viewers and helped bolster an already strong month for the streamer.

Netflix accounted for 8.5% of total TV viewing in December, tying its platform-best share mark set in July 2023. Netflix notched a 14% increase over the previous interval, and while some of that was attributable to the two NFL games, calculations showed the streamer’s monthly usage would have been up 11% even if contributions from the games were excluded.

Netflix also benefited from its action thriller film “Carry-On,” which generated 5.2 billion viewing minutes from Dec. 13 to 29 and achieved the third-most streamed title of the interval. It also received a boost following the Season 2 premiere of “Squid Game,” which accumulated 4.9 billion viewing minutes in the final week of the interval and also notched the highest weekly total (measured Monday through Sunday) for any streaming title in 2024.

In addition to Netflix, nearly all reported streaming platforms exhibited gains and several achieved platform bests.

YouTube viewing was up 7% to propel the platform to a record 11.1% share of TV usage.

Prime Video reached a platform-best 4.0% share of TV, as it benefited from hosting five NFL “Thursday Night Football” games, including one on Black Friday, during the December interval, as well as from its holiday blockbuster film “Red One,” which racked up 5.6 billion viewing minutes as the month’s top streaming title. Prime Video also saw success from its new original reality series Beast Games starring Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, with over 700 million viewing minutes accumulated across its first three episodes.

Max garnered an 18% monthly viewing increase in December, the largest among all streaming platforms, with upticks driven by its deep library of available shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Friends,” as well as newcomer “Dune: Prophecy.”

The broadcast and cable categories were notably football-heavy in December, and each saw monthly increases in sports viewership of 17% and 29%, respectively, due to games across the NFL, various college bowl games, and the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The cable category also received an 18% bump in feature-film viewing (on top of a 14% increase in November). Both categories, though, had to contend with seasonal-related declines: Broadcast networks pulled back on scripted dramas during the holiday season, resulting in an 18% dip in that genre, and cable news, following the end of the presidential election cycle, dropped by 27%.

NEW YORK—Fox Sports said will be streaming the Feb. 9 Super Bowl for the first time via free streaming service Tubi, as well as providing coverage of the big game in New Orleans on Fox, Fox Deportes, NBCUniversal’s Telemundo and across NFL digital properties

Tubi will offer a 4K feed of the coverage.

The news that Tubi will be streaming the NFL’s title game comes as Fox Corp’s free ad-supported streaming streaming service has been reporting significant audience growth. Recently, Tubi released new data showing it surpassed 97 million monthly active users and streamed more than 10 billion hours of content in 2024.

Fox Sports also reported a variety of details surrounding what it is calling its special coverage “takeover” of the Super Bowl.

On Friday, Feb. 7, in addition to Fox Sports’ regularly scheduled daily studio programming on FS1, the network will showcase a special live presentation on the Fox broadcast network spotlighting FS1’s roster of shows and personalities. The lineup begins at noon ET with “First Things First”, followed by “The Facility” at 1 p.m. and “Speak” at 2 p.m.. At 3 p.m., “Breakfast Ball” takes center stage before handing off to “The Herd With Colin Cowherd” at 4 p.m..

On Tubi featured content is set to include Fox’s “Super Bowl LIX Pregame Show,” the game itself and a first-of-its-kind live preshow titled the “Tubi Red Carpet at Super Bowl LIX.”

Fox also reported that fans can get ready for the game by tuning into the NFL Channel on Tubi to catch “Countdown to the Super Bowl” starting Jan. 28, with historical Super Bowls, iconic halftime shows, best of NFL Honors, league analysis and more.

Complete details surrounding Fox Sports’ programming for the big game will be announced at a later date, Fox Sports said.