NBC to offer first streaming-only NFL playoff game between Chiefs, Dolphins

NBC will be the first network to offer an NFL playoff game exclusively on its subscriber-based streaming platform, Peacock, this weekend.

Outside the Miami and Kansas City television markets, Saturday night’s wild-card match-up between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs will be available to watch only via the streaming platform.

Viewers in the two local markets will be able to watch the game, which kicks off Saturday night in prime time, on NBC.

The deal between the NFL and NBC, which was announced in May, was worth a reported $110 million.

Saturday night’s game will be a major test for the NFL, and nationwide streamers, of the market for subscriber-based viewership of playoff professional football. NFL games regularly rank among the top-watched live events on broadcast and cable television each month.

Sportico recently noted more than 90 of the top 100 broadcasts on television in 2023 were football games, with the NFL taking the lion’s share of the year’s viewership.

The NFL has been pushing further into streaming for years, highlighted most prominently by a recent partnership with Amazon Prime on “Thursday Night Football” during the regular season.

Linear cable providers have been facing major headwinds for months with increased cord-cutting, a tough ad market and a fragmented media landscape where more news and sports content is available online than ever before.