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Amazon's Reach A Selling Point For NFL-"TNF" Deal; Does Twitter Need New Strategy?

Amazon's deal to stream "TNF" games next season through its Prime service is "roughly similar to the one Twitter had last year," with Amazon being able to "sell a handful of ad slots per game," according to Peter Kafka of RE/CODE. Amazon said that it "may sell ads for those slots," but it "will also use them to promote the company's other video offerings." Amazon "won’t have exclusive streaming rights for the games," as CBS and NBC will also have the "ability to stream the games they broadcast, and Verizon will stream the games to its wireless subscribers." NFL Chief Media & Business Officer Brian Rolapp "argues that Amazon should be able to find at least as many viewers as Twitter did, since Amazon Prime members visit and use Amazon a lot." Rolapp: "Reach is a focus of ours. I think Amazon has been able to demonstrate, in everything that they do, massive scale. I don’t think this is limiting the reach. I think this is expanding the reach" (RECODE.net, 4/4). In N.Y., Nicholas Parco writes with the Amazon deal, "audience numbers seem to be less important to the NFL" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/5). Also in N.Y., Nick Wingfield writes Amazon Prime customers "spend $99 a year for a membership that includes free shipping and a video service with a library of movies and TV shows." The agreement "represents another step in the delicate dance between tech and entertainment companies as more viewers shift their viewing habits to the internet and digital devices." The agreement is an "attempt by the NFL to reach younger fans," but for Amazon the agreement is an "attempt to fill one of the biggest holes in its lineup" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/5).

NEW AVENUE FOR AMAZON
: ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted the $50M price tag for "TNF" is "relatively less of a spend for Amazon" than the $10M was for Twitter last season (ESPN.com, 4/4). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Flint & Ramachandran write Amazon is "aggressively trying to position itself as a premier source of entertainment content." Analysts estimate Amazon globally has "more than 60 million Prime members" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/5). AD AGE's Anthony Crupi wrote the number of Prime subscribers is "on an equal footing with the number of active stateside users of Twitter." Amazon, however, will "pay five times what Twitter invested a year ago for what is effectively the same package." The deal will "provide the league with a chance to take a look under the hood at yet another digital-media company" (ADAGE.com, 4/4).

IF THE SHOE FITS...: THE RINGER's Victor Luckerson wrote the partnership is a "more logical fit than one with Twitter, and it could portend more dramatic deals in the future." Unlike Twitter, Amazon is "already a destination for television content" (THERINGER.com, 4/4). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote the Amazon experiment will be "far more intriguing than the one-year Twitter dalliance." In the next wave of TV rights deals, Amazon could "emerge as one of the league’s major partners, given its ability to deliver unique (and thus more effective) advertising based on the shopping habits of the user" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 4/4). YAHOO SPORTS' Frank Schwab wrote if people "needed any more proof that the NFL's ratings crisis" of '16 was "severely overblown," they can look at how much Amazon is paying for NFL rights. The league has to be "thrilled with the price." If Amazon is "willing to pay that much for 10 games, where it won’t be the exclusive broadcaster and won’t even be the exclusive streamer, what could exclusive rights to stream games fetch?" That $50M bid "had to be an eye-opener for the NFL" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/4). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Elise Sandberg wrote this move "sets Amazon apart from competitors Netflix and Hulu, both of which have yet to enter the live sports programming space" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 4/4).

ONE-AND-DONE PLAYER: RE/CODE's Kurt Wagner wrote this is "bad news for Twitter." The NFL partnership was the "cornerstone of Twitter's livestreaming video strategy that it has been pushing to investors for almost a year." Twitter's pitch has been that the platform is "about 'live,' and there's nothing more real-time than live sports." Now the NFL is "gone, and the question for Twitter is this: Is its livestreaming video strategy still a good idea?" It is "unclear where Twitter goes from here" (RECODE.net, 4/4). 

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