Overview

• YouTube reported a 17.3 million global average-minute audience for Chiefs–Chargers, with 16.2 million in the U.S. per Nielsen and 1.1 million outside the U.S. per YouTube, reaching viewers in more than 230 countries and territories.
• The company said the stream set a platform record for most concurrent live viewers, and Nielsen-measured pregame and postgame shows averaged about 2.4 million and 5.9 million U.S. viewers, respectively.
• ESPN research executive Flora Kelly criticized Nielsen’s use of a custom process for this event, and recent shifts to Big Data + Panel and expanded out-of-home counting complicate cross-service comparisons.
• The audience topped last year’s Brazil opener on Peacock (14.2 million U.S.) and was similar to top Prime Video games, but it trailed Netflix’s 2024 Christmas streams at roughly 24 million.
• The São Paulo broadcast blended a traditional call with creator-led elements and alternate feeds featuring MrBeast, Deestroying, IShowSpeed and others, with Karol G performing at halftime, as the Chargers beat the Chiefs 27–21.