Netflix has sold out its Christmas Day NFL games, the streamer announced Tuesday. Verizon and FanDuel will sponsor the two games, which will stream live on the platform Dec. 25; other partners were not disclosed. 

Netflix announced the two games—the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans—during its May upfront presentation. But media buyers expressed frustrations with Netflix’s pitch, citing concerns over the games’ timing post-holiday shopping, competition with Christmas Day NBA games and their high price tag—initially $800,000 for a 30-second spot, in addition to larger package costs, Ad Age previously reported.

Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard has disputed reports about difficulties selling the games, telling Ad Age that despite the timing, “we really want to ‘eventize’ this, and I think that just makes it even a better proposition for the advertisers.” 

FanDuel, the games’ exclusive sportsbook partner, will sponsor a pregame segment with Netflix’s announcers discussing predictions and betting odds. It will also be featured with an in-game placement. Verizon will be the games’ kickoff sponsor, with integrations in additional pregame coverage.

All partners will run ad spots during the games’ commercial breaks, served to all viewers regardless of their subscription package. Nielsen will measure live ratings for Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games. Nielsen’s ratings will integrate Netflix’s first-party data, a practice the measurement company recently received MRC approval for.

Separately, Netflix announced Kia as the title sponsor for the upcoming season of “Squid Game” for viewers in South Korea. This is Netflix’s first single title sponsor in South Korea, and features custom ad creative and a pop-up experience at the automaker’s complex in Seoul.

Measurement and ad tech updates

Netflix will add VideoAmp cross-screen and live viewership to its measurement options for U.S. advertisers as well as Snowflake's data clean room technology, rolling out alongside the streamer’s weekly live WWE Raw matches in January, it announced. Netflix paid $5 billion for the rights to WWE “Raw.”

Also starting in January, Netflix advertisers in Brazil will be able to use Kantar Ibope Campaign Audience Validation to measure cross-platform reach and frequency.

Netflix also said it launched its in-house ad tech for Canadian advertisers, anticipated to roll out globally throughout 2025. Building its own ad tech—a significant shift for the streamer previously tied to Microsoft’s Xandr—is intended to offer advertisers better targeting and measurement, similar to platforms launched by Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Amazon.

Read more: Inside Netflix’s ad tech ambitions

Netflix says it reaches 70 million monthly users globally, up from the 40 million cited during its May upfront show. Half of new subscribers have chosen Netflix’s ad tier, according to a blog post by Reinhard.