Amazon Prime Video’s multi-billion-dollar move into live-streaming NFL games sparked plenty of debate when it was first announced a couple of years ago.
The eCommerce giants secured an 11-year deal that gave them near-exclusivity to stream ‘Thursday Night Football’ (TNF) games and the initial results appear to be mixed.
Nielsen Media Research figures for the 15-game package pitched the average viewership at 9.58 million, although Amazon have disputed the tally.
Their internal first-party metrics claim an average of 11.3m viewers watched the games – numbers Amazon and the NFL were eager to paint as positive.
Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, issued a statement defending the viewing figures.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the first season of ‘Thursday Night Football’ on Amazon Prime Video,” Schroeder said.
“The success of TNF this season with our first-ever all-digital partner marks an important moment in our industry and further increases our focus on looking for new and different ways to deliver our games to fans and reach new audiences.”
Regardless of Schroeder’s comments, the figures represent a significant drop on the weighted viewership average of 13.33m garnered by TNF in 2021. As Total Sports and other sports marketing agencies have extensively covered in the last year, a shift to online streaming has led to a drop in overall viewing figures, but increasing rights’ fees and sponsorship revenues have helped cushioned the drop.
Fox and NFL Network also broadcast Thursday games during the campaign, which goes some way to explaining the dip in figures this time around.
The NFL was prepared for the drop, with the additional $1.2 billion in their coffers helping to soften the blow of losing a significant portion of their audience.
TNF has never been the NFL’s main vehicle for advertising, with the prestigious ‘Sunday Night Football’ undoubtedly their main revenue driver.
An average of 23.6m linear and digital viewers watched the Detroit Lions versus Green Bay Packers game on the final day of the regular season, highlighting the disparity between each programme.
As with most major companies which plough massive resources into professional sport, Amazon are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.
One of their key business metrics Amazon uses to determine return on investment is new subscriptions to the company’s Prime service.
Their first broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs versus Los Angeles Chargers game in September reportedly generated the biggest three hours ever for Prime sign-ups in the United States.
Perhaps more importantly, Amazon attracted a significantly younger audience to its NFL streams than the usual median average age that watches linear television.
Reaching a younger demographic with disposable cash is not only a key goal for Amazon, but also a hugely important strategy for the NFL.
Amazon claim TNF averaged 2.11m viewers in the 18-34 age group, an 11 percent jump on the figures reported during the previous season.
While there was plenty of criticism about the quality of some of the Thursday games – a common theme in NFL circles – Amazon and the NFL’s bullishness about TNF may not be misplaced.
If the NFL could find it in the hearts to drop a few more enticing games into the Thursday schedule, Amazon’s decision to jump into the bed with them could pay dividends all around.