Beyoncé Bowl Outshines NFL Games, Drawing 27M Christmas Day Viewers

The NFL’s Christmas Day games reached new heights as Beyoncé’s halftime show performance drew a peak viewership of over 27 million viewers on Netflix, surpassing the average gameplay viewership of 24 million throughout the day.

Returning to her hometown of Houston, Texas, Beyoncé delivered a spectacular 12-plus minute performance produced by her company Parkwood Entertainment in collaboration with Jesse Collins Entertainment. Making a grand entrance on horseback, the superstar treated audiences to the first live performances from her highly anticipated COWBOY CARTER album.

The setlist featured new tracks including “16 CARRIAGES,” “BLACKBIIRD,” “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” “YA YA,” “SPAGHETTII/RIIVERDANCE,” “LEVII’S JEANS,” “JOLENE,” and concluded with her chart-topping hit “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” in a dramatic finale that saw the singer ascending to the stadium’s rafters.

The star-studded performance featured guest appearances from Post Malone, Shaboozey, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, and Tiera Kennedy. Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter joined the performance as a dancer, alongside the Texans cheerleaders.

In a celebration of Western and Rodeo culture, the show included notable figures such as Mexican Cowgirl Melanie Rivera, legendary bull-rider Myrtis Dightman, Jr. (known as the “Jackie Robinson of Rodeo”), former Miss Rodeo Texas titleholders Nikki Woodward, and Arkansas’s first Black Rodeo Queen Ja’Dayia Kursh. Houston Texans owner Cal McNair and his wife Hannah also participated in the festivities.

The performance was further elevated by nearly 200 members of Texas Southern University’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band, adding to the show’s grandeur and local flavor.

This marks Beyoncé’s third NFL showcase, following her acclaimed Super Bowl XLVII headlining performance in 2013 alongside Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and her guest appearance at Super Bowl 50 in 2016 with Coldplay and Bruno Mars, which drew 115.5 million viewers.

Netflix subscribers can soon revisit the entire “Beyoncé Bowl” halftime show as a standalone special, set to arrive on the streaming platform later this week.