The NFL’s first YouTube-exclusive game broadcast between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs drew 16.2 million viewers in the U.S., according to qualified Nielsen analytics around the stream, which reported “average minute audience,” or the number of fans tuning in for at least a minute over the duration of the game.

Around a million more fans tuned in from other countries, according to YouTube. “Average minute audience” is not the standard way NFL games are accounted for by its traditional broadcast and cable partners through Nielsen, which used a custom measurement for this game.

The game drew attention for its unusual Friday night scheduling slot (a quirk of the calendar and a rare early-September Friday window for the NFL, which is otherwise prohibited from airing games on Friday nights after the second Monday of September), as well as its exotic location (in front of an enthusiastic 50,000 fans in Brazil) and its inclusion of creators as “alt-cast” broadcasters.

Broadcast options ranged from the main feed (featuring Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner) to an NFL-themed comedian to Spanish-language influencers to IShowSpeed, whose “Watch With” feature drew thousands of his 43 million subscribers flooding his chat window and encouraging him to thank them for paying for membership in his fan base.

As for the game itself, the best news was that it totally felt like a game a fan would watch on Sunday afternoon on CBS or Fox. Nothing about the YouTube-ness felt like it got in the way of watching a regular-season game. (NBC was behind the production.) In fact, the on-screen score bug drew praise on social media and elsewhere for its cleanliness.

One interesting (if inexact) comparison: When Amazon Prime Video aired its first NFL game — Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, coincidentally also between the Chiefs and Chargers — Nielsen said the game had 13 million viewers. In the three years since, the percentage of people who consume streaming video on TV has eclipsed the percentage consuming either through traditional broadcast or cable. And YouTube itself accounts for 13 percent of all TV viewing, as of July 2025, per Nielsen.

YouTube succeeds by NFL standards

As I wrote in my Week 1 NFL media column, the YouTube broadcast will be considered a success by YouTube and the NFL because the broadcast came off with no glitches or tech issues. That’s the proof of concept the NFL wanted.

Viewership number, however, is underwhelming given it’s an easy 20 million+ game with a linear network partner. The NFL says the final number will rise when more international numbers come in from countries such as Brazil and Canada, so we’ll see how it ultimately gets counted. But I expected a higher number given all the YouTube promotion.

Regardless, to use a cliché, we are barely in the first quarter with NFL games on YouTube. — Richard Deitsch, media reporter

(Photo: Nelson Almeida / AFP via Getty Images)