Amazon Prime’s first exclusive broadcast of Thursday Night Football was mostly on point.
Key Details
- Amazon Prime Video successfully aired its first live stream of Thursday Night Football between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers with limited issues!
- Amazon hasn’t revealed viewership yet but told advertisers to expect more than 12.5 million views.
- There were some issues. Some less tech-savvy users struggled to access the game on Amazon Prime, and others reported issues with sound quality, video synchronization, buffering, and delays.
- “So the first Amazon Prime exclusive NFL stream was a mixed bag. Fortunately, the streamer has 15 more games to figure things out,” says Yahoo Sports.
- “The vast majority of viewers had little-to-no issue. But it wasn’t seamless. Such is the reality of broadcasting a game exclusively over the internet and the limitations of technology,” says USA Today.
Why it’s news
The successful first stream was a major success for Amazon’s billion-dollar investment in the NFL and Thursday Night Football.
As we previously reported, Amazon signed a deal with DirecTV to air Thursday Night Football games in public venues over Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime Video is the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football and the broadcasting deal permits venues to take advantage of that by streaming the games publicly.
“It’s the first time a game has been carried exclusively by a streaming service,” says Yahoo Sports.
Amazon Prime Video is the exclusive media partner for Thursday Night Football until 2023, at a cost of $1 billion per year.
Backing up a bit
Other streaming services have struggled with the stress of premieres. As we reported, HBO Max faced widespread outage reports for the premiere of its highly anticipated new series The House of the Dragon, which drew in fewer viewers than Amazon predicted for its own broadcast.
“There were some reports of blocky resolution and buffering, but in general, Amazon hung in there, and it aired a football game,” says The Verge.
“There was nothing particularly innovative or new in the broadcast, from the choice of cast to the style of programming. But that was surely by design: even legendary commentator Al Michaels, hired by Amazon to call these games, said he wasn’t going to reinvent the wheel. None of us are.”
