Amazon’s Prime Video is preparing to commence its 11-year media rights deal with the NBA for a reported $1.8 billion annually. The company will distribute 66 regular-season games on Prime Video each year, including various presentation windows, along with games in the Emirates NBA Cup, SoFi Play-In Tournament and a matchup on Black Friday. Prime Video will air six NBA Conference Final rounds throughout the 11-year deal while also holding global distribution rights and becoming the league’s strategic partner and third-party global destination of NBA League Pass.
Jay Marine, the global head of sports for Prime Video, is in the process of working with his colleagues to determine the look and feel for NBA games on the streaming platform. In a recent interview with Alex Sherman of CNBC, he divulged that the company is working hard on applying a model centered on the customer and that the team is currently in the innovation phase. When Marine discussed potentially landing NBA rights with league commissioner Adam Silver, he emphasized the success of Thursday Night Football, which attained record-high viewership this past regular season, along with the potential for audience expansion through its customers.
“With over 200 million Prime members globally, we can obviously reach that viewing audience, but importantly, if you take Thursday Night Football, our viewing audience is seven years younger than the viewing audience watching the NFL on linear,” Marine said. “So again, if you want to go to where the future is and you’re going to commit to a long-term partner, you want to know that that partner is going to be where customers are and that partner is ready to invest side by side to go innovate the viewing experience, and I know that was very important for Adam.”
Earlier in the week, Prime Video announced that its NBA studio show would consist of Taylor Rooks, Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin. Moreover, reporting from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic has divulged that Ian Eagle will be the lead play-by-play announcer for games on the platform and that the outlet has had discussions with Dwyane Wade about a potential role as well. Marine is excited for the new studio show and is viewing the deal in terms of being involved for the long run, but he is not concerned about viewership ratings being down throughout the early portions of the season.
“This is an 11-year deal, and I am honestly not even thinking about Year 1,” Marine said. “I’m thinking about what our broadcast and what our viewership’s going to be in Year 5, Year 7, Year 10 as we build a long-term franchise and become known with fans for the NBA on Prime, and if we do our job and do it right, I feel great about that future.”
Over the last several years, more streaming-first companies and technology brands have secured major sports rights and are doing business with leagues and entities around the world. Netflix recently set the streaming record for NFL games with its Christmas Day doubleheader presentation and also started its 10-year broadcasting deal with WWE for Raw. Apple TV+ continues to broadcast Friday night MLB games and MLS matchups in deals with the leagues, and YouTube TV remains the home of NFL Sunday Ticket.
Amazon has inked several rights contracts with various domains, including NASCAR, the NWSL and the New York Yankees, and it is also agreed to a deal to provide access to FanDuel-branded regional sports networks owned by Main Street Sports Group. There has been speculation surrounding the viability of legacy media companies as reagents in the business model have indicted altered consumption habits and innovation in technology. Marine recognizes these seminal transformations while also understanding the value of live sports.
“I think there is incredible companies who have been doing this very well for a long time, and I have so much respect for all of them and I’ve studied their broadcast, and they do a fantastic job,” Marine said. “Now, a lot of their businesses are going through a period of disruption and transition, and what that looks like on the other side, I don’t know. There’s been numerous stories about media and whether there will be consolidation, and there probably will be at some point in some areas, but I think what everybody has learned is sports brings unique value to any business model.”
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