After streaming its first exclusive NFL playoff game in January, Amazon Prime Video is in line to air similar contests in each of the next eight seasons, an NFL spokesperson confirmed Friday.
Amazon, which first inked its current NFL tie-up in 2021, has earned those rights after proving its ability to deliver record audiences digitally. In its third season airing Thursday Night Football exclusively, Amazon averaged 13.2 million viewers in 2024, up 11% from the prior year. Average viewership among 18-to-49 year-olds—6 million per game—was the highest in TNF history dating back to 2006, the company shared.
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Its first exclusive playoff contest—a Ravens 28-14 shellacking of the Steelers—garnered 22.1 million average viewers, with a peak of 24.7 million tuned in. Amazon reportedly paid $150 million for that game after turning down the option to grab a 2023 postseason contest (which Peacock ultimately streamed). It’s unknown how much the company, with a $2.5 trillion market cap, is spending on rights to the playoff games. It pays roughly $1 billion per year for 16 TNF contests, not including the Black Friday tilts Amazon has shown the last two seasons. Sports Business Journal first reported that Amazon would be streaming playoff games through the 2032 season.
The NFL retains an opt-out opportunity in each of its current domestic media rights contracts following the 2029 season (or 2030 season in the case of ESPN). At that point, the league could go deeper into business with tech companies such as Amazon.
Following the marks hit by Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has overseen an expansion of the company’s live sports strategy, including a $20 billion NBA rights grab. Amazon Prime Video global head of sports Jay Marine has since expressed potential interest in picking up MLB and UFC rights as well. He also said he’d like Amazon to add Super Bowl coverage following the next round of media negotiations.
“The NFL changed the way people looked at us,” Marine told The Washington Post last year.
In particular, analysts have credited live sports with boosting Amazon’s advertising business, which grew 18% year-over-year to $17.3 billion in the final quarter of 2024.
The NFL meanwhile has expanded its streaming partnerships. Google-owned YouTube picked up NFL Sunday Ticket in 2022, while Netflix aired its first live NFL games in 2024.
“When you see what we’re doing with the Netflixes and the Amazons and the Peacocks of the world, I think that’s going to be a very important advancement for us in the context of media strategy,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said during his annual Super Bowl week press conference.
On Sunday, the NFL will add Tubi to the mix, as Fox’s free streaming service delivers its first Super Bowl.
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