Several digital media execs said they generally were impressed with the technical aspects of Amazon’s stream of the Bears-Packers game on Thursday, even if they experienced some hiccups at the beginning of it. None of the execs wanted to be quoted talking about a competitor. One exec noted there was no audio for the first 10 minutes and audio syncing issues crept up soon after. After thosee initial hiccups, however, video and audio quality were good for the rest of the game. “I am impressed,” one exec said during the game. “Video quality is solid. Ad breaks are clean.” The exec especially was impressed with the latency of Amazon’s stream, which in some cases were as little as five seconds behind the live broadcast feed. The exec described the stream’s latency as “next level. No one has ever been this good on a live sports event that I can recall…Pretty impressive debut” (John Ourand, Staff Writer). GEEKWIRE's Nat Levy noted the stream, the first of 11 on Amazon this NFL season, "went smoothly" after the initial "buffering issues." The streaming issues after a few minutes "subsided and the quality was smooth for the rest of the first half." Amazon’s interface was "easy to use on all platforms, though without a lot of bells and whistles." It "mostly felt like watching a regular TV presentation." Amazon "leveraged other parts of its business to spread the word about the broadcast, as banners for the game were "all over Amazon’s apps and website." The company said that people from 149 countries "streamed the action during the first half." Levy noted Amazon was "advertising Prime throughout the game." For those who "came in without a Prime account, clicking on the banner for the game gave them an option for a 30-day free trial for Prime" (GEEKWIRE.com, 9/28). Early in the stream, the CordCuttersNews Twitter feed posted, "Anyone having issues with the @NFL on @Amazon? I keep getting error messages." The feed later posted, "OK its working now." BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield: "Missed the fumble due to buffering on @AmazonVideo @nfl."
THE ANGLOSPHEROID: MASHABLE's Patrick Kulp wrote Amazon's U.K. English feed with soccer commentators Tommy Smyth and Ross Dyer on the call "charmed Americans who rarely get to hear a U.K. perspective on the sport" (MASHABLE.com, 9/28). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Phillip Bupp wrote the U.K. announcers were "entertaining in their brutal honesty." Bupp: "No offense to Jim Nantz and Tony Romo (they’re great on the call), but give me Dyer and Smyth just calling it as they see it in very delightful accents" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 9/28). ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. on Twitter wrote, "On Amazon’s UK stream, the Packers’ shellacking of the Bears sounds like Masterpiece Theatre" (TWITTER.com, 9/28).
BUY, BUY, BUY: CNBC's Eric Chemi noted a "lot of the purpose of the pregame show" on Amazon was "simply, ‘Here’s how you can buy Amazon products to help you enjoy all kinds of things in your life, like watching football.’" Chemi: "This is a way to set people up to get in front of the Amazon ecosystem and start buying things and get Prime memberships.” (“Worldwide Exchange,” CNBC, 9/29). CNBC’s Mike Santoli said it seems “culturally Amazon is incapable of playing it cool and doing anything but trying to sell you something” (“Closing Bell,” CNBC, 9/28).
