The NFL will embark on a new Christmas Day tradition starting this year. Christmas Day games have been played in the past throughout the NFL, but only on special occasions.  That changes Wednesday, as the league will play Christmas Day games in the middle of the week for the first time.

Netflix’s first NFL Christmas Day doubleheader ended up being successful globally. The Baltimore Ravens’ 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans averaged 31.3 million while Kansas City’s 29-10 win at Pittsburgh averaged 30 million worldwide,

Thanks to NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, Netflix said it enjoyed its "most-watched Christmas day ever" in the U.S.

Netflix’s NFL debut set a new streaming record for the league, with an average audience of more than 24 million people in the U.S. watching each of the two Christmas Day games, according to preliminary Nielsen data.

NFL's Christmas Day double-header games were the most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history, according to preliminary Nielsen figures that don't include international viewership. Why it matters: Once international figures and additional U.

“NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix” begins with a two-hour pregame show at 11 a.m., before Pittsburgh hosts Kansas City. Baltimore faces Houston in the second game. The streaming giant agreed to a three-year contract in May to carry Christmas Day games.

D: As expected, Netflix boasted quite an impressive audience for its two Christmas Day NFL matchups. The Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans games, the first-ever NFL games on the streamer, put up an unduplicated audience of nearly 65 million U.