Report: Amazon Prime Video paying $120 million for exclusive rights to NFL playoff game
Amazon Prime Video is paying an estimated $120 million for exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game in the 2024 season, Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reported Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that a deal had been agreed to, to give the streaming service an exclusive playoff game next season. Amazon was previously offered a playoff game this past season but declined to take it. NBCUniversal took the offer instead in a deal valued at least $110 million. Peacock streamed the game — the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Miami Dolphins — garnering 23 million viewers and accounting for 30% of web traffic. Kansas City’s 26-7 win over Miami was the most streamed event ever in the United States.
As opposed to Peacock, which launched in July 2020 and reported 31 million subscribers to end 2023, Amazon has an estimated 180 million in the U.S. alone. The monthly cost ($14.99 a month), however, is much higher than Peacock’s ($5.99).
Amazon exclusively streaming another NFL game
Amazon currently owns the rights to “Thursday Night Football” as part of an 11-year deal worth $1 billion annually. The streaming service averaged 11.86 million viewers per game during the 2023 season. That marked an increase of +24% over the previous season (vs. 9.58 million), according to a January press release. Amazon also paid $100 million to stream the league’s first-ever Black Friday game between the Dolphins and New York Jets on Nov. 24. The stream drew 9.61 million viewers. It’s unclear if the NFL and Amazon will work together to stream another Black Friday game in 2024.
Speaking with the media ahead of Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the NFL’s strategy in having games broadcasted on streaming services.
“We have to fish where the fish are, and we have a lot of consumers that are on those platforms. And the Peacock game showed that,” Goodell said. “Amazon showed that over the last two years. … Our fans are on these platforms and our fans want to access them.”