49ers-Rams Melbourne Game Sets NFL Streaming Record
Netflix's Australia broadcast of 49ers-Rams drew 21.7 million global viewers, with the US stream peaking at 21.3 million and 100,021 fans at the MCG.
The first NFL regular-season game played in Australia drew a global audience of 21.7 million viewers across more than 200 countries and territories, Netflix reported.
In the United States, the 49ers-Rams opener averaged 18.5 million viewers on the streaming platform, with a peak of 21.3 million. It stands as the most-watched NFL game in Australian history.
The 18-34 age group accounted for 4 million viewers in the US, the best mark for a streamed NFL regular-season game outside of Christmas Day. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 100,021 fans attended, placing the game seventh by attendance among all regular-season matches in NFL history.
San Francisco reached Melbourne a week before kickoff, while Los Angeles delayed its trip until 9 September, repeating the late-arrival approach that worked in last season's London game. Kyle Shanahan had treated Aaron Donald's return as certain for the opener, and George Kittle and Nick Bosa made the trip with the 49ers, though Kittle's own availability remained unresolved beforehand. Sean McVay, for his part, expected Puka Nacua and Alaric Jackson to play despite the NFL's ongoing review of misconduct cases involving both.
The Rams, founded in 1936 and now playing home games at the 70,240-seat SoFi Stadium, took their season opener to the other side of the world and turned it into the best-watched streaming numbers a regular-season game has produced outside the holiday slate.
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