The NFL has announced a renewal of its partnership with Amazon to stream the Thursday Night Football package over Prime Video.
These games once again will have a tri-cast distribution model of broadcast network (Fox is taking over for CBS and NBC this fall), cable (NFL Network) and digital (Amazon).
Twitter was the first carrier of this slate of NFL games during the 2016 season before Amazon reportedly paid $50 million for the rights in 2017. Reuters reported that Amazon would pay $65 million per year, for a total outlay of $130 million. Also on Thursday, Amazon reported beating its first quarter revenue projection by 43 percent and announced the cost of an annual Prime membership was increasing from $99 per year to $119.
Amazon claimed stronger viewership numbers with an average-minute audience (essentially a concurrency measure) of 310,000 viewers tuning in for at least 30 seconds of a game, with a peak total viewership of two million uniques during a Dec. 7 Saints-Falcons game.
In a letter to Amazon shareholders earlier this month, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos reported that more than 18 million total viewers tuned in for the eleven games that Prime Video carried. There are more than 100 million Prime subscribers spanning more than 200 countries and territories. Amazon-owned Twitch began streaming a few late-season games, which the NFL news release said would continue.
The slate of Thursday Night Football games on Amazon this fall will run from Weeks 4 through 15, excluding Week 12 on Thanksgiving. The first game pits two playoff teams, the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings, against each other.
Included in the partnership renewal is an extension of the working relationship producing “All or Nothing,” the behind-the-scenes docuseries whose third season debuts Friday with eight episodes detailing the Dallas Cowboys in 2017.
“Amazon was a tremendous partner for Thursday Night Football in 2017 and as we continue our mission of delivering NFL games to fans whether they watch on television or on digital platforms, we are excited to work with them again for the next two seasons,” said Brian Rolapp, Chief Media and Business Officer for the NFL. “Having over 100 million Amazon Prime members provides a massive platform to distribute Thursday Night Football digitally, not only to our fans in the United States but also around the world.”
“Our customers love to stream football — last year, we successfully debuted NFL Thursday Night Football on Prime Video in the U.S. and around the world,” said Jeff Blackburn, Senior Vice President Business Development & Entertainment at Amazon. “We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with the NFL and offer Prime members another two seasons of Thursday Night Football.”
SportTechie Takeaway
There is no shortage of suitors for digital carriers of live sports, with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube among the serious competitors, but Amazon has not been shy about its desire to be aggressive in pursuing sports. At the kickoff event last fall, executives noted that prior Prime Video content, especially movies, were longer-form content that had been received well by subscribers.
Rich Au, the director of Amazon Channels in the U.S., said that the company was reviewing a whole slew of opportunities, calling live sports “an exciting space for us because we feel like we can help grow sports with many of the opportunities we’re looking at.” He also emphasized the importance of Prime Video’s global reach.
Next up could be the English Premier League, whose digital rights were not awarded at February’s auction, with Amazon linked to serious interest. Amazon has also been active in securing international tennis and beach volleyball rights in the past year.