Live NFL coverage fuels sign-ups across streaming platforms

Live NFL programming continued to drive streaming subscriber growth during the 2025-26 season, reinforcing football’s role as a cornerstone of the U.S. streaming ecosystem, according to new data from Antenna.

From the start of the regular season on Sept. 4, 2025, through Dec. 31, Peacock averaged 101,000 daily sign-ups, an 87% increase compared with its offseason average of 54,000, Antenna reported.

Special NFL events also generated sharp acquisition spikes. Antenna observed 461,000 Netflix sign-ups during the three-day window from Dec. 24-26 tied to NFL Christmas Gameday 2025, marking the service’s largest acquisition event of the year and a 133% increase over its average daily sign-ups in 2025.

The company previously reported that NFL Christmas Gameday 2024 was Netflix’s second-largest acquisition event that year, trailing only the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, with sign-ups increasing 190% over the service’s daily average.

Beyond premium subscription video on demand, the league has continued to attract consumers to its direct-to-consumer offerings. Antenna estimates NFL+ and NFL Sunday Ticket combined reached nearly 6 million subscribers by the end of December 2025.

At the close of the fourth quarter, NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions were up 56% year over year, while NFL+ subscriptions increased 29% compared with the same period in 2024, according to Antenna estimates.

While Super Bowl LIX was not available on subscription streaming services outside of virtual MVPDs, Antenna previously estimated that Super Bowl LVII on Paramount+ in February 2024 generated the largest number of sign-ups of any live sporting event that year. Three of the five biggest premium SVOD acquisition moments in that period were NFL games.

Super Bowl LX will stream live on Peacock this weekend, and Antenna said it will continue to monitor the event’s impact on subscriber acquisition and retention, as well as Peacock viewer behavior during the upcoming Winter Games in Milan.

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