For years, Verizon customers were able to stream NFL games on their phones for free, before the league took control of those rights to launch its own over-the-top (OTT) streaming service NFL+ to the market this past summer. However, the mobile carrier’s partnership with the NFL is still strong. The telecom company announced this week that it was bringing the NFL+ to its subscription aggregator platform +play. With NFL’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscription service available in +play, users will be able to seamlessly manage their NFL+ subscription from inside the platform.
+play is billed as a first-of-its-kind technology that allows customers to discover, purchase, and manage some of their favorite subscriptions — in one place and on their wireless network. Verizon announced +play earlier this year, and has been busy adding apps in order to launch the service, including HBO Max.
“Verizon and the NFL have been partners for more than 10 years, and we’re thrilled to bring NFL+ to the +play platform for sports fans to enjoy,” said Erin McPherson, Verizon’s chief content officer. “We have a track record of providing our customers incredible value, as well as great premium content from leading services. As one of the largest direct-to-consumer distributors in the country, we’re solving for millions of customers’ pain points by providing them with an innovative tool to manage multiple subscriptions all in one place.”
Even before the +playintegration, Verizon was already involved in the launch of NFL+. The company currently offers its customers a 37% discount on a subscription to the premium tier of NFL+, which has extra features like ad-free game replays and coaches’ film.
According to a report, the league has already made over $10.5 million with its streaming app despite technical issues, and the expanded distribution offered by +play is expected to help those numbers grow even more.
Verizon has added a host of content to its +play platform already, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, discovery+, AMC+, as well as HBO Max, Netflix and TelevisaUnivision’s ViX+, among many others with more to come.
NFL+
NFL+ allows fans to watch live local and primetime games on mobile and tablet devices. And with an NFL+ Premium subscription, you can watch replays of every single game without ads, condensed game replays, and coaches film. The service also allows fans to choose their audio stream (home, away, and national calls). The Premium plan also includes NFL RedZone on TV.