Amazon will pay the NFL about $65M annually "to stream two more seasons of Thursday night games on its Prime Video service," according to a source cited by REUTERS. The price is 30% more than what Amazon paid last season, which "underscores how the online retailer values sportscasts as a way to attract people" to its Prime membership (REUTERS, 4/27). AD AGE's Anthony Crupi noted Amazon last year beat out Twitter for the "TNF" streaming rights, paying $50M to simulcast games airing on CBS and NBC. The NFL recently "signed over the broadcast rights to the 11-game package to Fox." That the NFL decided to renew its digital deal with Amazon rather than "kick the tires on another tech giant like Google's YouTube came as something of a surprise, as it seemed the league had been interested in testing the capabilities of the biggest streaming players in advance of the expiration of its current TV rights pacts." Amazon in '17 "delivered an average-minute audience of 310,000 viewers per game." Shortly after the NFL announced its new "TNF" streaming deal, Amazon said that it would "raise the annual sub fee on Prime" by 20%, hiking its rate from $99 per year to $119 (ADAGE.com, 4/26). RECODE's Peter Kafka wrote it is "very important for the NFL to show that the value of these games keeps increasing." NFL Media VP/Strategy & Business Development Amanda Herald confirms that while Amazon will "bundle the games behind its Prime subscription paywall," it will also "offer them for free" on Twitch (RECODE.net, 4/26). Amazon has been "building out its lineup of sports programming to lure more viewers, including a deal to stream the U.S. Open Tennis Championships" in the U.K. and Ireland, plus the NFL documentary series "All or Nothing" (REUTERS, 4/26).
