Amazon Exclusive Streamer for '18, '19 NFL Thursday Night Games
Once again, Amazon has won the exclusive streaming rights for NFL Thursday night games, this time signing on for two more years and beating out Twitter and YouTube. Amazon Prime Video will stream 11 games in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Fox will broadcast the same games, and they'll be available on cable through the NFL Network and Fox Desportes. While neither party disclosed how much Amazon paid for the rights, Amazon is reported to have paid $130 million for the two-year agreement. Amazon paid $50 million for Thursday Night Football last season.
Amazon will offer the games to Amazon Prime subscribers around the world in over 200 countries and territories. The company recently said it has over 100 million paying members. Those members will soon pay a little more, as Amazon announced yesterday it's raising the yearly cost of a Prime membership from $99 to $119 starting June 16.
Amazon's first Thursday night game in the upcoming season will be the Los Angeles Rams-Minnesota Vikings week four game on September 27. The full Thursday night schedule is online.
Besides streaming Thursday night games, Amazon offers the original series "All or Nothing," which is produced by NFL Films. The third season debuts today.
In a letter sent to shareholders last week, Amazon said it attracted over 18 million viewers to its 11 Thursday night games last season.
In February, the NFL announced that Fox paid $3 billion to be the Thursday Night Football broadcast partner for five years. In December, the NFL and Verizon signed a non-exclusive five-year deal that brings NFL in-market and national games to various Verizon mobile properties. That deal is reported to be worth $1.5 billion. And in September the NFL signed a two-year deal with Facebook to deliver video highlights for regular season games, playoff games, and the Super Bowl.
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