The NFL's Record-Breaking Thanksgiving, Japan's World Cup Surprise, and Formula 1's US Viewership Growth

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Hey Friends,

I hope everyone (that celebrates) had a nice Thanksgiving. I spent the week hanging out with family and made a last-minute decision to take a few days off from writing.

I’m working on a bunch of exciting things that you all will love, but before we get back into our regular schedule, here are a few interesting things I noticed over the break. Enjoy!

The NFL’s Record-Breaking Thanksgiving

The National Football League has been playing games on Thanksgiving Day for more than seven decades. Initially, the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys negotiated the annual event to increase national publicity for their franchise — but it has since become much more.

For example, this year was the most-watched Thanksgiving Day in NFL history:

• Total unduplicated audience across all 3 games of 138 million — that’s the highest Thanksgiving total audience on record and up +34% vs. 2021.

• Average viewership (TV + Digital) across all 3 games of 33.5 million — also the highest Thanksgiving Day NFL average on record.

• Giants-Cowboys on FOX averaged 42.0 million viewers (TV + Digital), making it the most-watched NFL regular season game on record.

The NFL will now try to parlay that success into its first Black Friday game next year, which Amazon will host. But my guess is — given the astronomical numbers we saw this Thanksgiving — that the NFL’s first Black Friday game won’t be its last.

The Japanese National Team Steals The Show In Qatar

The first week of the 2022 World Cup did not disappoint. Saudi Arabia stunned Argentina, the US equalized a strong England squad, and Brazil’s Richarlison gained 4 million followers on Instagram overnight after his bicycle-kick goal against Serbia.

But perhaps the most talked about moment came off the pitch when FIFA posted a photo of Japan’s locker room after their upset win over Germany.

This tweet garnered 435,000 likes (my most-liked tweet ever) and nearly 30 million impressions. So I guess you can say people appreciate Japanese culture!

Ps. they also left origami cranes on the table and a note that says “shukran” or “thank you” in Arabic.

Formula 1 Breaks Another US Viewership Record

Formula 1 decided several years ago that it needed to grow its market share within the United States. This was a tall task, of course. The United States is home to the world’s largest economy, and it’s been notoriously tricky for international sports leagues to break through.

So Formula 1 did something interesting: rather than making a few million dollars a year by selling their TV rights to a lower-tier broadcast partner in the United States, they literally gave them away to ESPN for free.

That led to an increase in linear distribution stateside, and when you combine it with the Netflix bump from Drive to Survive, the world’s most popular racing series has doubled US viewership over the last three years alone.

Average US F1 Viewership (per race)

• 2020: 607,000

• 2021: 949,000

• 2022: 1.21 million (+99%)

And now the US will host three races annually (Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas) while increasing its annual rights fee with ESPN to $85 million. So yes, their no-fee deal with ESPN was a pretty good investment.

Have a great day. I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow.

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Everything You Need To Know About The 2022 Qatar World Cup

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