The first AFLE season in numbers
Fans watched more than 1.1 million hours of the first American Football League Europe season on TV, streaming and social media.
The American Football League Europe’s inaugural season reached audiences across the continent and beyond. Viewing hours measure the total time audiences spent watching, whether on free TV, on AFLE+, on YouTube or through social media video. Added together, that figure came to more than 1.1 million hours watched in 2026, across all channels and platforms combined.
On TV across Europe
The majority of those hours came from free TV. Sport1 broadcast 16 games in Germany between 23 May and 6 September 2026, including a Semifinal and the Gold Bowl, reaching an average audience of 24,000 viewers per broadcast, with individual games drawing between 7,000 and 52,000 viewers. Sport1 alone accounted for around 90 percent of all viewing hours recorded this season.
In France, Sport en France broadcast all 12 games featuring the Paris Lights. Those games drew a median audience of 72,000 viewers per game, with a season total of 881,000 viewer contacts across both airings of each match.
In Austria, Red Bull TV carried 14 Vienna Vikings games live and on demand, recording 63,400 views and 24,000 viewing hours on the streaming platform over the course of the season.
On the league’s own channels
Beyond the broadcast partners, the American Football League Europe built a significant presence on its own digital channels. Between 1 January and 24 September 2026, the league’s accounts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X and YouTube generated more than 62 million views and impressions. The season itself, from 22 May to 8 September, accounted for 43.2 million of those.
Video content drove much of that engagement. Across Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube and AFLE+, the league recorded more than 14 million video views in 2026. On Instagram alone, viewers spent more than 20,000 hours watching Reels from the league’s official account throughout the year.
Each game also generated consistent engagement across social platforms. League posts about each of the 51 games, matched by game hashtag on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X alongside each game’s YouTube highlight, averaged more than 250,000 views per game.
A growing community
The audience that followed the season did not just watch. It grew. The league’s combined follower count across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and X reached more than 42,000 by 8 September 2026, an increase of 77 percent during the season. Club accounts are not included in that figure.
On YouTube specifically, the growth was even sharper. The league’s YouTube channel more than tripled its subscriber count between 22 May and 8 September, rising 242 percent over the course of the season.
AFLE+ brought the games to fans outside the league’s core broadcast markets. During the 2026 season, viewers from 96 countries accessed content on AFLE+, a reminder that appetite for American football in Europe extends well beyond the eight home markets of the league’s franchises.
Thank you
None of these numbers exist without the people behind them. Thank you to the fans who watched every game, followed every play and filled the stadiums on Gameday. Thank you to the franchises, whose players, coaches and staff made the content worth watching. And thank you to Sport1, Sport en France and Red Bull TV for bringing the American Football League Europe to audiences across the continent in this first season.
The replays are available on AFLE+. Follow the league on social media to stay connected as the next chapter begins.
