Amazon Will Be ‘Aggressive’ in Pursuing More Live Sports Rights; Advertisers Flocking to Football During Hollywood Strikes
“Thursday Night Football” may not have garnered the ratings that Amazon would have thought were ideal in its first season exclusively broadcasting the primetime games on Prime Video, but some bumps in the road were to be expected. A transition to streaming for a product as big as the NFL, even if it’s just one game per week, is going to leave some fans confused about how to watch.
But Amazon executives are largely pleased with the way things went last season, and are ready to get rolling on another year of “TNF.” According to Business Insider, during a conference call with media members held by Amazon representatives this week, Jay Marine — the company’s VP of Prime Video and global head of sports — said that Amazon was on the lookout for more live sports opportunities.
“We’ll continue to look at live rights,” Marine said during the call. “We’ll be aggressive, but we’ll also be rational.”
Users should keep an eye on Amazon particularly when it comes to the NBA. That league’s national broadcasting rights are up for sale again after the 2024-25 season, and it has already floated the possibility of selling a package of games that will be streaming exclusives in its next rights deal. Amazon would almost certainly have interest in that subset of games, and it already partners with the NBA to stream a selection of regular season games in Brazil and is a partner on the WNBA as well, airing at least one game per week.
Amazon was also linked with the Pac-12 at one time, though any potential deal between the two is likely long gone now that so many schools have announced they’re leaving the conference. Still, its one-time pursuit of the Pac-12 and its multiyear deal with the Professional Pickleball Association show what type of deals Amazon is interested in making to acquire more live sports. The company was reportedly working on a standalone sports streaming service as of December 2022, though it has offered no updates on such a platform since. However, additional live rights would certainly make the launch of a sports-focused streamer much more attractive.
Marine also used the call to tout Prime Video’s new advertising capabilities ahead of the NFL season. Agencies will be able to better target ads, offering users commercials for different cars from the same manufacturer based on their demographics, for example. Marine also outlined the positive effect that the dual strikes from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are having on his service.
“Because of the strikes, more ad dollars are flowing to live sports, and there’s nothing more exciting than live sports,” he said. “We’re getting more than our share.”
Ad buyers told Business Insider that as much as 20% of advertising budgets are being shifted to live sports and away from the primetime block on broadcast and cable TV. Amazon has lowered its asking price for ads to be more in line with traditional broadcasters, and agencies are responding by sending dollars that would have been spent on linear TV to Prime Video instead.
Fans shouldn’t be surprised to see Prime Video pursue big-ticket sports rights in the future. The service clearly feels that it’s ironed out a large portion of the kinks that arose during the 2022 “TNF” season, especially as it garnered a much younger audience than traditional NFL broadcasts, and it’s ready to start building on that experience.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.