Goodbye Twitter, hello Amazon: NFL's Thursday night games have a new home
Sorry, Twitter.
The NFL has found a new streaming home with Amazon Prime, Mashable has confirmed.
Beginning later this year, Amazon Prime users can stream 10 Thursday night games -- which will still be available on linear TV on CBS and NBC (which are splitting rights), and NFL Network.
According to The Wall Street Journal -- which first reported the news Tuesday -- the one-year deal is valued at around $50 million, reportedly five times the amount Twitter paid to stream the same amount of games last year.
A key difference: Anyone could watch the games on Twitter last fall for free, but Amazon requires a Prime membership. The company currently boasts about 60 million Prime members worldwide.
Twitter livestreamed the games for free on mobile as well as its connected-device apps, making the quality high enough to stream on large TVs. As Mashable's Kerry Flynn reported last year, the streams were a big hit for the platform, with the first attracting 2.1 million unique viewers.
On a per-minute basis, about 243,000 people were watching, on average. While that figure is nothing compared to the roughly 16 million averaged by CBS and NBC, those who tuned in on Twitter were of a younger demographic. Twitter also had a more global reach, with about 25% of the viewers streaming games from out of the country.
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Now Amazon is hoping for that same success. The e-commerce giant has made strides with its programming, even picking up several Oscars (their first!) earlier this year.
With live programming, it is distinguishing itself from competitors Netflix and Hulu -- which currently don't boast any live shows. YouTube and Facebook have also both upped their live content, especially during the 2016 election.
The deal builds on Amazon's existing relationship with NFL films. Last month, the streaming service greenlit a second season of the Emmy-nominated All or Nothing series.
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
