Amazon Prime Video has notified advertisers it will be giving them make goods for failing to meet viewership projections during its first season broadcasting Thursday Night Football.
A report from Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports details the compensatory ads being given to those who were told by the streaming platform it expected an average audience of 12.5 million viewers. That number was down from the 13.4 million viewers averaged by FOX in 2021.
According to Amazon’s internal reporting, Thursday Night Football viewership averaged 11.3 million in 2022. Nielsen’s numbers indicated an average of 9.6 million viewers.
“We are very pleased with the viewership and customer feedback for the first season of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video and first-ever full package of NFL games exclusively provided by a streaming service,” an Amazon spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
“Through the 2022 season, TNF averaged 11.3M viewers according to Amazon’s first-party measurement and the median age was the youngest in a decade for a full-season NFL package. We worked closely with our advertising partners throughout the season to deliver on our commitments, and we look forward to creating even more opportunities and innovations next season.”
A report from Insider claims the streaming platform has been “scrambling” to appease advertisers for its ratings miss. However, it did add that advertisers “are likely to give Amazon a pass overall, given this was the first season for a streaming-only TNF”.
Amazon reportedly touted its “younger viewership as a key benefit” of advertising on the platform. According to Amazon, the median age of its Thursday Night Football audience was 47. That is seven years younger than the average audience of NFL games on linear television.
