As Amazon Prime Video enters the second year of its Thursday Night Football broadcasts, the company remains dedicated to its growth. The company acquired the coveted broadcast property one year early after FOX Sports exited its contract as part of the league’s new 11-year media rights deal worth over $10 billion annually. Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit and Kaylee Hartung comprised the primary commentary team and are all expected to return in the second season of games after averaging 9.58 million viewers last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.
When combined with Amazon’s internal metrics, the number increases to 11.3 million viewers. Although the total viewership number was down from the 2021 season when games were presented on FOX and simulcast on NFL Network, the streaming platform is excited to watch the continued progression of the franchise.
“We’re playing the long game; this is an 11-year deal,” Jay Marine, Global Head of Sports at Amazon Prime Video, said at CNBC and Boardroom’s inaugural Game Plan sports business conference on Tuesday. “One thing at Amazon – we’re willing to invest for the long term. Thursday Night [Football] never really had a home – it’s been on multiple places – so our goal is to build a franchise, and a franchise that’s durable and extremely valuable in year four, five, 10 and 11.”
Out of the 11 million viewers, 22% of them were between the ages of 18-34, an improvement from the season prior. The median age of streaming viewers was 47 years old, which is seven years younger than the average median age of consumers watching National Football League games on linear television. Thursday Night Football also attained the highest ratings in the age 18-34 and 18-49 demographics, showcasing the power of the over-the-top (OTT) media platform and the NFL.
“We’re extremely excited about the first year of Thursday Night Football,” Marine said. “It was really the first new broadcaster the NFL has had in over 20 years, and the bar was so high because of great companies like ESPN [and] NBC Sports. I’m most proud of the production quality we put on air.”
Amazon Prime Video paid approximately $100 million for the rights to the first-ever NFL Black Friday game in a matchup between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. Additionally, Thursday Night Football became the third national property to be granted flex scheduling abilities, allowing it to claim two games per season between Week 13 and Week 17 with 28 days’ notice. Lead play-by-play announcer Al Michaels told Barrett Sports Media that he hopes the platform will not have to use it, instead thinking that its schedule will be good enough.
“I think it’s a testament to the NFL’s trust in us to help launch a new NFL holiday and a new tradition, and Black Friday’s perfect for us; [it is] obviously the biggest shopping day of the year,” Marine said. “So we’re putting everything against that this year, and it’s going to be a great game.”
Despite some pundits claiming the ratings came up short from where Amazon Prime Video was projected to land, the company is satisfied with the growth trajectory of its broadcasts. After all, more people are streaming content than ever before, as Nielsen’s Media Gauge report conveyed that 39% of television consumption takes place through this approach. Globally, the streaming market is expected to burgeon to $1.9 trillion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.3%.
“The macrotrends are going in our favor,” Marine said. “More people are going to stream next year – all content, not just sports – than the year before. The year after that, more people. You can debate the rate of change, but you can’t debate the macro-trajectory, so when you see a macrotrend like that, you can invest a lot because you know that investment’s going to pay off in the long term.”
Aside from football, Amazon Prime Video is also interested in expanding its partnership with the National Basketball Association. The two entities are currently in a partnership where the streaming platform airs up to four games per week in Brazil, while having the ability to broadcast up to 24 playoff games. Amazon Prime Video also announced an exclusive media rights deal with Overtime Elite for its live basketball games, proof of further penetration into the space. While it remains unknown whether or not Amazon Prime Video will make a bid for a share of the NBA media rights, Marine did acknowledge that it will approach its future planning aggressively, but with a sense of rationale.
