The second season of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video is utilizing new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to enhance the viewing experience. The new Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats viewing feed implements insights gained through instant data capture of several key metrics, including location, speed, and acceleration. Moreover, predictive technologies identify open targets, likely defensive assignments and highlights key plays throughout the night that viewers can quickly and easily access.
The broadcast is redefining the way people watch football, granting more control to the consumer than ever before and allowing them to tailor their viewing experience. On the year, Prime Video has posted five consecutive weeks of double-digit viewership increases year-over-year (YoY) and has a median age of 47, seven years younger than audiences tuning in to NFL games on linear platforms.
On Friday morning, WGR 550 AM host Jeremy White described his viewing experience on Prime Video and how he was specifically blown away by predicting when and who from the defense is going to blitz the quarterback. During one play, the AI technology illuminated two players on the Saints defense in red, signaling that they were most likely to blitz. Sure enough, these defensive players followed through, imposing pressure on the quarterback and impressing viewers of the feed.
“If I’m watching Thursday Night Football, that’s the broadcast I’m watching,” White said. “That is my habit now – I’m watching the Next Gen Stats cast. In the last couple of weeks, they started doing that, and I feel like every time I’ve noticed it, they are on the money.”
A byproduct of these new functionalities, White presumes, could be augmented frustration from fans when players do not perform or make the correct reads. With viewers having more clarity regarding gameplay throughout the contest, some fans may be more apt to hold their teams to expectations of foresight and execution more difficult to attain.
“If a guy goes short of the first down line and you’re watching at home and you’re like, ‘How come he didn’t just go another foot?,’ the answer is he can’t see that line,” White said. “We can; he can’t, and there will be a play, I don’t know, where if the AI predicts or shows which receiver is going to be open and the quarterback doesn’t throw to him; after five years of that, are we saying, ‘How come Allen didn’t see Davis wide open?’”
White referenced something former WGR host Matthew Coller expressed regarding the technology, affirming that it could become a pedagogical tool for athletes leading up to a game. Utilizing predictive AI within weekly routines has the potential to close the gap between the athlete and the viewer; however, part of the game is dependent on having strong reflexes and being able to adapt a moment’s notice.
“It is predictive AI that is, in real time, showing you tendencies,” White said, “and that watching the tape back might include this to help with visualization.”
