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Over 13 Million People Watched ‘Thursday Night Football’ On Amazon Prime Last Week

09/22/2022
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Topline

Week one of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video averaged 13.3 million viewers, Amazon announced Thursday, citing Nielsen data, after the tech giant last year spent a reported $11 billion to be able to exclusively air the games for 11 years.

Key Facts

The viewership surpassed that of last year’s Thursday night opening game, which got 8.84 million viewers on NFL Network and through streaming.

Local broadcasts of the September 15 game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs accounted for just 1.16 million viewers, meaning an overwhelming majority of its viewership was on the streaming service.

Thursday night football games last season averaged 12.84 million viewers on Fox and NFL network.

Amazon Prime Video’s global head of sports Jay Marine wrote in a memo this week that Thursday Night Football drew a record number of Amazon Prime subscriptions in a three-hour period, and the game “delivered the most watched night of primetime in the U.S. in the history of Prime Video.”

What To Watch For

The Cleveland Browns face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers at 8:20 p.m, with pre-game coverage starting on Prime at 7 p.m.

Key Background

Amazon is the first streaming service to exclusively carry a set of NFL games. Amazon Prime subscriptions, which includes free two-day shipping, access to Amazon Prime Video and other benefits, costs $14.99 a month. Subscriptions to Prime Video alone cost $8.99 a month. Amazon raised its price this spring of Prime to $139 from $119 a year.

Tangent

Thursday Night Football isn’t the only investment playing out on Prime Video screens right now. Prime Video’s fantasy series and Lord Of The Rings spin-off The Rings Of Power premiered earlier this month. Amazon reportedly paid $250 million for the rights to the story, and the first season of the show cost a reported $465 million to make.

Further Reading

Amazon Scores Big With First ‘Thursday Night Football’ Game (The Hollywood Reporter)

Amazon averaged 13 million viewers for its ‘Thursday Night Football’ debut, according to Nielsen data (CNBC)

Here’s How Involved Jeff Bezos Was In Amazon Prime’s ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ (Forbes)

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/09/22/over-13-million-people-watched-thursday-night-football-on-amazon-prime-last-week/