NEW YORK—EverPass Media has announced a commercial distribution agreement with Amazon Prime Video for Thursday Night Football that allows all current and future EverPass customers to access and stream Thursday Night Football via the EverPass platform. The agreement is set to begin with this week’s NFL games.

The addition of Prime’s Thursday Night Football package – which includes an exclusive Wild Card Playoff game – builds on EverPass’ expanding sports offerings, which includes other NFL content. EverPass is the exclusive holder of commercial NFL Sunday Ticket rights, which includes all out-of-market games.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Prime to add Thursday Night Football to our live sports catalogue and making it available for commercial businesses to stream,” said Alex Kaplan, CEO of EverPass Media. “With the addition of this package to our portfolio, we're excited to offer our commercial business owners even more choice and control over the sports content that captivates audiences and fuels their success. This partnership underscores our commitment to being the go-to provider for premium sports content for businesses, ensuring that our customers have the very best at their fingertips that allows them to innovate the out-of-home viewing experience and drive growth.”

The deal with Amazon comes after EverPass’s recent acquisition of UPshow. That acquisition provided EverPass with the technology infrastructure to support streaming directly on its platform, establishing a comprehensive media platform, centralizing premium sports and entertainment content and integrating powerful consumer engagement tools designed to drive business growth for the commercial establishment, the company said. 

EverPass was founded in 2023 in partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and 32 Equity, the strategic investment arm of the National Football League. TKO Group Holdings, parent company of UFC and WWE, joined as an investor in 2024.

More information is available at https://everpass.com/. 

Ratings for Amazon Prime Video’s second season of exclusive "Thursday Night Football" (TNF) jumped 24% among total viewers over the previous season (11.86 million vs. 9.58 million), according to Nielsen. Amazon says TNF’s across-the-board viewership gains in 2023 included 13 weeks of double-digit, year-over-year gains among total viewers, as well as its second consecutive season of double-digit increases in the hard-to-reach P18-34 demographic.

Amazon said Prime Video’s TNF audience is almost seven years younger than those watching the NFL on linear networks, and nearly 14 years younger than audiences watching prime-time broadcast television during the Fall 2023 season.   

“We’re still very much at the beginning, but Thursday Night Football’s record growth in our second season is beyond encouraging as we work to super serve fans and advertisers,” said Jay Marine, vice president, Prime Video, and global head of sports. “We are building TNF on Prime into an incredibly valuable franchise, and our production and tech teams deserve a great deal of credit for the quality and innovation we have delivered to fans, and we are just getting started.”

The 2023 TNF on Prime season kicked off in September with a Vikings-Eagles matchup that averaged 15.1 million viewers, making it the most watched TNF game ever on Prime Video, as well as the most streamed NFL game in history, Amazon said. On November 30, those records were broken by a the Seahawks-Cowboys TNF game that attracted an average audience of 15.3 million viewers, and a peak audience of nearly 18 million. 

Other season highlights included the launch of a new NFL tentpole event with the inaugural Black Friday Football game, and double-digit viewership growth across all pregame and postgame shows, including TNF Tonight and TNF Nightcap, which grew +24% and +10%, respectively.     

NEW YORK—Amazon’s Prime Video is reporting that Prime Video’s 2023 Thursday Night Football opener between the Vikings and Eagles set an all-time record as the most-streamed NFL game in history.

According to Nielsen’s custom Integrated Live Streaming Report, Prime Video averaged 16.6 million viewers (AMA) across all media platforms during the Vikings-Eagles showdown, as the defending NFC Champions notched their second win of the season.

Nielsen’s National TV Ratings (panel only) reported that the game was up +16% in total viewers over the comparable game in 2022 (15.1 million vs. 13.0 million), and ranks as the most-watched TNF game ever on Prime Video.  Among the key demos, the game was up +15% year-over-year among P18-49 (7.6 million vs. 6.6 million), and up +17% among P18-34 (3.5 million vs. 3.0 million) from last season’s TNF Chargers-Chiefs season opener (9/15/22).

The median age of the TNF audience was 47, which is 7 years younger than the NFL average on linear networks through the first week of the season (54).

“We’re so excited to have kicked off our second season of exclusive TNF coverage by setting new all-time audience records. Building on last year’s success, our team worked tirelessly this offseason to raise the bar and enhance the viewing experience even further, so to see this kind of response and turnout from fans is very gratifying,” said Jay Marine, VP, Global Head of Sports, Amazon. “We are thrilled with the continued growth and performance of TNF, the ways in which we are innovating in the space, and the value our sports portfolio provides to Prime members.”

Amazon said that the most-streamed NFL game record is based on device AMA, inclusive of Prime Video, Twitch and NFL+.

Nielsen’s custom Integrated Live Streaming Report combines Amazon’s first party viewing signal aggregated from the millions of connected TV devices streaming TNF with Nielsen’s panel-based TV measurement. Nielsen then includes their out of home (OOH), local station (OTA), and computer/mobile measurement to provide a comprehensive, cross-platform view of the TNF audience. Nielsen's integration of first party viewing signal into its accredited panel measurement is currently undergoing review by the Media Rating Council and is presently not accredited.

Additional Nielsen National TV Ratings highlights include:

• TNF on Prime Video outperformed all other programming on broadcast and cable television Thursday night, among total viewers, P18-49 and P18-34.
• The Sept. 14 game reached a peak audience of 17.0M between 9:15-9:30PM ET.
• For the week beginning Monday, Sept. 11, TNF on Prime Video ranks as No. 1 program of the week among P18-34 across broadcast and cable.
• TNF on Prime Video was the most-watched program of the night across broadcast or cable, out-delivering the No. 2 program by +372% in total viewers (15.1 million vs. 3.2 million).

NEW YORK—Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) coverage will be returning on September 14 with a number of new enhancements, including native 1080p HDR picture quality, Key Plays, and the first NFL Black Friday game on November 24.

The 1080p HDR feed will mark the first time that TNF has been delivered in HDR or high dynamic range, which offers a greater contrast between light and dark, and more vivid colors. 

Key tech infrastructure for the coverage will include TNF’s production fleet of eight mobile units anchored by “Prime One,” the command center that produces each game in native High Dynamic Range (HDR) video and Dolby surround sound audio. 

The TNF arsenal of equipment also features 50+ cameras and aerial technology covering every inch of the field and angle of action, Amazon reported. 

Amazon said that Prime Video will be able to produce and deliver TNF in native High Dynamic Range (HDR) for the first time using its arsenal of next-generation production equipment, unparalleled live streaming technology, and a direct-to-consumer delivery that is not constrained by legacy systems present in traditional broadcasting, Amazon reported. 

The games will be streamed with a combination of Prime Video and AWS proprietary, end-to-end livestreaming solution that delivers ultra-low latency, eliminates drift, ensures synchronization, and delivers streams with unparalleled quality from the stadium to the screen in 10 seconds or less. This delivery speed matches—and often surpasses—what fans receive from traditional cable and broadcast networks, Amazon said. 

Another new feature for the TNF 2023 coverage will be “Key Plays.” 

Key Plays leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide fans with an ability to view in-game highlights and key moments on demand while watching TNF on Prime Video. A bank of pivotal moments builds as the game progresses and offers viewers immediate access to a full rundown of the action, the company explained. 

Prime Video is also providing Rapid Recap for those who join the game in-progress and want to catch up on the action they missed before entering the livestream. Accessible after selecting “Watch,” Rapid Recap employs AI and machine learning to compile up to 13 highlights, with the full recap lasting no longer than two minutes. While viewing the rundown, viewers have the ability to either skip or rewatch big plays within the queue and jump to live action at any time.

In addition the streams will feature the X-Ray Prime Video feature that provides layers of information, allows viewers to track advanced Next Gen Stats powered by AWS, watch on-demand replays enhanced with player performance metrics, get team and player info, shop official NFL merch, and even predict the outcome of the game with Fan Polls.

Prime Video will also be providing a weekly TNF alternate stream, “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats,” returns for all 16 regular-season matchups on Prime Video. 

Through a combination of on-screen graphic overlays, AI-driven insights, Next Gen Stats powered by AWS, and distinctive vantage points from the All-22 camera angle, the weekly alternate stream will deliver in real time pre-snap player ID tags, receiver route trees, identify open receivers and potential blitzers, and engage player-tracking data to display outstanding feats in ball-carrier speed, yards after catch, closing speed, and time to throw.

Also new-for-2023, Amazon reported that its Prime Vision additions will employ machine learning and custom logic to identify pivotal situations, allowing fans to place themselves in the coach’s shoes and read developing plays like a quarterback. 

Additional highlights that will debut on the “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” stream throughout the 2023 season include:

• Defensive Alerts. Developed through a unique offseason collaboration between TNF producers, engineers, and Prime Video’s computer vision machine learning team, Defensive Alerts is an AI-powered feature driven by a neural network that gets stronger as more and more plays unfold. It tracks the movements of defensive players before the snap and identifies “players of interest” in real-time that are probable to rush the quarterback. When a probable blitzer is identified, a highlighted orb appears under them to give viewers a heads up. 
• Prime Targets. Prime Targets is an enhanced version of last season’s Open Receiver feature that identifies receivers that are open and likely to convert a first down. Through RFID chips in the players’ shoulder pads, Prime Targets tracks and highlights open receivers in real-time with a green orb when they meet qualifying logic.
• 4th Down Decision Guide. Utilizing Next Gen Stats’ 4th Down Decision Guide and machine learning, Prime Video will help fans understand how fourth-down decisions are made by coaches in real-time. In pivotal third-down down situations, “Prime Vision” will overlay a line on the field that indicates where the offense needs to advance the ball in order to receive a strong “go for it” recommendation on fourth down.
• Field Goal Target Zones. In order to provide more context surrounding drives where a field goal has added importance, such as at the end of a game or half, the “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” Field Goal Target Zones overlay multiple lines on the field that deliver the statistical likelihoods that a kicker will make a field goal.

NEW YORK—As more sports become available on streaming platforms and a growing number of games are only available on streaming platforms, a new study from the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) provides a cautionary analysis of how streaming exclusivity can impact overall viewing. 

The new VAB report examines the 2022 NFL season when saw Thursday Night Football (TNF) shifted from national TV to streaming as part of a new eleven-year exclusive national distribution deal for Amazon Prime Video. 

The report found that Thursday Night Football audiences were down significantly in 2022 after shifting exclusively to streaming, with average audience and weekly reach declining 37% and 49%, respectively, versus games in 2021 that were available across multiple major video platforms.

"A key implication for marketers is that streaming exclusivity of sports doesn't drive nearly the total audience of TV networks, who utilize their cross-platform access points including broadcast, cable and streaming," said Jason Wiese, senior vice president, director of strategic insights, VAB. "While streaming's in-app audience can have longer tune-in times and skew towards younger adults, a multi-screen approach—encompassing both linear and streaming—typically delivers higher reach, a larger total audience and multicultural demographics in greater numbers."

Some of the report's additional findings—covering audience viewership, demographics and engagement—include: 

• Amazon's streaming exclusivity garnered larger audiences than NFL Network-only games.
• Amazon streaming delivered a higher average 18-to-34 audience in 2022 than the prior year.
• TV networks drive much larger total audiences to their premier night game series.
• NFL games available across broadcast and cable TV networks garner much higher reach.
• A key benefit of in-app streaming TV is longer tune-in time versus other video platforms.
• Streaming viewership is more likely to skew towards younger adults.
• Many more people watch Spanish language game coverage from TV networks. 

The full report is available at https://thevab.com/insight/whats-the-spread-2022.

SEATTLE—Amazon is reporting total audiences for the first ever season of Thursday Night Football games to be exclusively streamed that are higher than the numbers reported by Nielsen but still significantly down from the previous season when the NFL package was shared by Fox, the NFL Network, Amazon and local broadcast channels. 

Amazon reported that the Thursday games during the 2022-23 season attracted an average audience of 11.3 million, higher than Nielsen’s 9.58 million average audience but significantly down from the 16.2 million viewers the games averaged a year earlier. 

The data is notable given the shift in overall sports rights from broadcast and cable to streaming. The 41% decline in the Nielsen numbers from 16.2 million to 9.58 million might indicate problems for streamers hoping to attract the audiences and advertising revenue previously earned by broadcasters. 

On the plus side, the streamer was able to attract more younger viewers, which is notable given the difficulties of reaching young viewers via broadcast and pay TV. 

Amazon reported that TNF on Prime’s had a median age that was the youngest in a decade for a full-season NFL package. TNF on Prime also finished up +11% in P18-34 compared to last season and men 18-34 were up 18% vs. last season, registering the largest year-over-year jump for an NFL package in that demo in nine years. 

The median age of viewers also dropped to 47 on TNF, seven years younger than the median age of those watching the NFL on linear TV, and the streamed games attracted audiences with higher incomes. 

TNF on Prime viewers earned a Median Household Income of $98,500, which is 19% higher than audiences watching the NFL on linear networks ($82,800), Amazon said. 

“Amazon has earned a strong reputation for making big bets, and given the unprecedented scale of this challenge and the hallowed place that NFL coverage holds among millions of fans, the launch of Thursday Night Football ranks high among our most ambitious enterprises,” said Jay Marine, vice president, Prime Video, and global head of sports. “We are only at the beginning of a long-term mission, but are ecstatic with the results and achievements of this first season, bringing millions of new viewers to Prime Video every week.”

According to Amazon, key metrics for the TNF season include: 

• According to Amazon’s first-party viewership measurement, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged 11.3 million viewers (AMA) during the 2022 season.
• According to Nielsen Media Research figures alone, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged 9.58 million viewers per game (including OTA and OOH) during the 2022 season.
• Thursday Night Football’s average audience crossed the 10-million mark six times during the 2022 season, ranking TNF games high among the most watched events in all of television.
• According to Nielsen, the 15-game average of each TNF stream’s peak viewership was 11.30 million.
• Throughout the 2022 season, fans watching TNF on Prime held a median age of 47 years old, which is seven years younger than the average median age of viewers watching the NFL on linear TV.
• TNF on Prime finished the season with the lowest median age for a full-season slate of games since 2013, and registered the largest median age gap on record between a stand-alone NFL package and the rest of the NFL packages.
• TNF on Prime’s average viewership among P18-34 was 2.11 million, up +11% compared to 2021 on FOX, NFLN + PV (1.90 million).
• Among P18-34, TNF won the night all 15 times across broadcast and cable programming throughout the 2022 season.
• TNF won the week in the P18-34 demographic four times during the 2022 season.
• Throughout the 2022 season, 22% of TNF on Prime’s viewers were in the P18-34 demographic, compared to 14% of viewers watching the NFL on linear networks. Throughout the fall season, only 7% of viewers watching prime time on linear are in the P18-34 demographic.
• Among M18-34, the 2022 TNF season finished up +18% vs. 2021, registering the largest year-over-year jump in that demo for an NFL package since 2014.
• TNF games, The TNF Postgame, TNF Nightcap and TNF Tonight were the 1st-, 2nd-, 4th-, and 5th-ranked shows on average across broadcast and cable among M18-34 viewers on Thursdays throughout the fall season.
• TNF on Prime’s average viewership among P18-49 was 4.70 million viewers.
• Among P18-49, TNF won the night all 15 times across broadcast and cable programming throughout the 2022 season.
• Throughout the 2022 season, TNF’s P18-49 viewership crossed the 5-million mark four times.
• Throughout the 2022 season, 49% of TNF on Prime’s viewers were in the P18-49 demographic, versus 35% of viewers watching the NFL on linear. 22% of viewers watching prime-time television on linear are in the P18-49 demographic.
• TNF Outperforms Prime-Time Linear Programming this Fall Season
• In its first season exclusively on a streaming service, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video was the most watched program on Thursday nights 13 of 15 times this season, outperforming all head-to-head broadcast and cable programming among total viewers P2+.
• Thursday Night Football Leads in Viewer Engagement. TNF on Prime viewers devoted 85 Average Minutes Watched per game this season, nine minutes longer (+12 %) when compared to viewers of linear NFL telecasts (one-minute qualifier, P2+).
• Despite no lead-in programming, TNF Tonight attracted an average audience (P2+) of 1.12 million viewers throughout the 2022 season; 229,000 among P18-34; and 158,000 among M18-34; 519,000 among P18-49.
• Throughout the 2022 season, The TNF Postgame Show attracted an average audience (P2+) of 3.32 million viewers; 816,000 among P18-34; 568,000 among M18-34; and 1.87 million among P18-49.
• Throughout the fall season, The TNF Postgame Show ranks 2nd among prime-time linear programming on Thursdays in the P18-34 demographic.
• Throughout the 2022 season, TNF Nightcap attracted an average audience (P2+) of 1.68 million viewers; 431,000 among P18-34; 302,000 among M18-34; and 987,000 among P18-49.
• According to Nielsen, throughout the 2022 season, TNF on Prime viewers earned a Median Household Income of $98,500, which is 19% higher than audiences watching the NFL on linear networks ($82,800).

NEW YORK—After a noticeable delay of nearly one week in releasing audience data for Prime Video's first regular season Thursday Night Football game, Amazon's streaming service has finally announced some impressive numbers, with 15.3 million viewers watching the September 15 showdown between the AFC rival Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.

Those numbers include all available data on every platform from Amazon’s first party measurement metrics and Nielsen data. 

Taken alone, Nielsen National TV Ratings showed that Thursday Night Football averaged an impressive 13.0 million total viewers, up +47% from last year’s comparable Week 2 TNF matchup, which aired solely on NFL Network (NYG vs. WSH, 8.84M, including over-the-air). Thursday’s audience on Prime Video peaked from 10:45-10:59 p.m. with 14.6 million viewers as the Chiefs outdueled the Chargers, 27-24. 

Perhaps more notably for the future of NFL games on streaming platforms, the game proved to be a big hit among younger viewers, drawing a 4.25 rating in adults 18-34, making it the #1 rated program for the week in that demo and 18% higher than the average A18-34 NFL rating this season. 

Thursday Night Football (TNF) on Prime Video also delivered an audience 7 years younger than the linear NFL audience through Week 2 of the 2022 season (46 vs. 53). The audience was 8 years younger than last year’s average TNF audience (54, tri-cast on Fox, NFL Network and Prime Video).

TNF on Prime Video also rated higher than last year’s full-season TNF tri-cast average among A18-34 (+29%, 4.25 vs. 3.3) and A18-49 (+9%, 5.0 vs. 4.6), Amazon reported.

TNF on Prime Video was the most-watched program of the night across broadcast or cable, out-delivering the #2 program by +271% in total viewers (13.0 million vs. 3.5 million for "Young Sheldon" on CBS).

The Nielsen numbers of 13 million viewers were also higher than the 12.5 million Amazon had promised advertisers according to Ad Age. 

According to Nielsen local market ratings, the local broadcasts in Los Angeles averaged 602,000 viewers, and 555,000 viewers in Kansas City.

NEW YORK—The TVB trade association has released viewing data from Nielsen showing that on August 25th, when Amazon Prime Video debuted its first NFL Thursday Night Football game, nearly half of the national audience came from two home markets where the game aired on local broadcast TV. 

The pre-season matchup featured the San Francisco 49’ers at the Houston Texans and it delivered 1.04 million Live+Same Day P2+ total viewers, nationally. In the two home markets where the game aired on local broadcast TV (San Francisco and Houston) the game attracted 494,135 Live+Same Day P2+ total viewers or nearly half (48%) of the national delivery, the TVB reported. 

“The power of local broadcast TV and major sports franchises couldn’t be more clear,” Steve Lanzano, president and CEO, TVB, a not for profit association representing local television stations. “Football enthusiasts love their home teams and overwhelmingly choose to watch their games on hometown TV stations. Just two local broadcast TV stations in San Francisco and Houston easily attracted 48% of Amazon’s national delivery, and that’s just pre-season!”

Data released in Nielsen’s NPOWER and NLTV report for 8/25/22 showed that Amazon Prime Video pre-season game NTI Live+SD P2+ impressions totaled 1,035,000 and the two local broadcast TV stations delivered 48% of Amazon’s national delivery, with KTVU/San Francisco Thursday Night FB NSI Live+SD P2+ delivering 264,355 impressions and KRIV/Houston Texans Pre-season FB NSI Live+SD P2+ garnering 229,780 impressions. 

NEW YORK—As Amazon prepares for the landmark streaming launch of its exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football (TNF) telecasts on Prime Video, Nielsen and Amazon have signed a three-year agreement to measure the games as part of Nielsen's National TV measurement service. 

Starting with the 2022 NFL season, measurement will include full coverage of the TNF broadcast—including the pregame, in-game and postgame programming—on Prime Video and Twitch, as well as the over-the-air stations in teams' local markets each week, and out-of-home viewing.

This will be the first time a streaming service will have one of its live programs measured as part of Nielsen's National TV measurement service, the companies said. 

TNF will be measured and processed like all other NFL games, using Nielsen's panel, allowing for the same metrics to be reported across all other national networks, continued trending, and comparability. According to Nielsen's ratings, NFL games and shoulder programming such as pregame and postgame accounted for the top 27 live telecasts in 2021, and 47 of the top 50.

"Nielsen is the long-time leader in the measurement space, providing gold-standard currency to the media industry and we're thrilled that Amazon recognizes that and is working with us to bring a streaming service into our National TV measurement for the first time ever," said Deirdre Thomas, managing director, U.S. audience measurement product sales, Nielsen, "We are committed to delivering comparable, comprehensive measurement of all audiences, across all platforms, and this agreement to measure TNF viewership is a testament to that commitment."

"Excitement is building for this new era of Thursday Night Football. We are looking forward to delivering a new viewing experience and offering brands new ways to connect with current and future fans," said  Srishti Gupta, Director of Media Measurement, Amazon Ads.  "Our collaboration with Nielsen will allow us to provide advertisers with familiar campaign measurement to make apples-to-apples comparisons across their multi-channel media investments. Additionally, advertisers will have access to metrics from Amazon that will provide actionable insights to understand brand awareness, engagement, and sales. This powerful combination of first and third-party measurement is something only Amazon can provide." 

Nielsen will begin measuring TNF on Amazon starting with its preseason game August 25 featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans. Amazon's exclusive 15-game TNF regular season slate kicks off September 15 when the Los Angeles Chargers travel to Arrowhead to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. 29 of the NFL's 32 clubs will appear on TNF this season, culminating December 29 when the Tennessee Titans host the Dallas Cowboys.

NEW YORK—The rights package for the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” is getting an early delivery to Amazon Prime Video, as the streaming service will become the exclusive home for Thursday night games starting with the 2022 season.

Amazon Prime Video had been granted the rights to “Thursday Night Football” as part of the NFL’s new 10-year broadcast rights deal it signed in March. That deal will officially begin with the 2023 NFL season. This latest announcement from the NFL will bring “Thursday Night Football” to Amazon Prime Video a year earlier than expected.

Fox has been the broadcast home of “Thursday Night Football” since 2018. The 2021 NFL season will be the final one where the broadcaster carries the games—Amazon Prime Video simultaneously streams these broadcasts.

Fox, as per the new rights agreement, will still be the home of the NFC package of Sunday afternoon games.

Even though Amazon Prime Video is the exclusive rights holder for “Thursday Night Football,” the NFL has said that the games will be carried free over-the-air in the broadcast markets for the teams participating in the weekly matchup.

The NFL was the first major U.S. sports league to announce this kind of exclusive deal with a digital platform, but it is not the only one. The NHL is going to have some games on both ESPN+ and HBO Max as a result of its new broadcast deals with ESPN and Turner Sports, respectively. MLB also broadcasts a handful of games on YouTube TV throughout its season. 

SEATTLE—Amazon Prime Video is ready to kickoff its fourth season of broadcasting the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” game, with some new additions to its broadcast presentation.

Debuting for the Oct. 8 game between the Chicago Bears and the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Prime Video’s presentation of TNF is giving fans more control to access stats and replays, as well as how they want to listen to the broadcast.

Prime’s TNF coverage includes X-Ray, which offers real-time access to live stats and key insights. New to X-Ray this season is an interactive in-game on-demand replay experience, which enables fans to re-watch plays from throughout the game in real-time, providing more information on players involved in the play, additional NextGen statistics, as well as trivia. This replay feature is immediately available on all Fire TV, Android and iOS devices, and will be available on web browsers later in the season.

Viewers will also have the choice of how—or more precisely, who—they listen to the game as well. Prime Video is producing multiple announcer options for TNF in addition to the default Fox broadcast featuring Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Other options include Hannah Storm and Andrea Kramer; a “Scout’s Feed” with former NFL scouts Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah with sports podcast, radio and TV host Joy Taylor; and the Fox Deportes Spanish-language broadcast for Prime Video members in the U.S. and Mexico.

In addition to these new features for the actual broadcast, Prime Video has announced new content to go along with its TNF coverage, including the second season of the “NFL Next” analysis show and multiple new shows that will be available exclusively on the streaming platform Twitch.

“We know these are unusual times, and have developed a wall-to-wall lineup of exclusive features and original content from across Amazon that prioritizes real-time data and insights, provides expert analysis and gives fanatic and casual football fans alike access to more games, more talent and more options than ever before,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of Global Sports Video at Amazon.

The Oct. 8 broadcast on the Chicago Bears vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be available on Prime Video and Twitch, as well as on traditional Fox stations.

SEATTLE—Amazon Prime will continue to be the streaming home of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games, as the two sides have reached a multi-year agreement extending their partnership that began in 2017. In addition, the deal adds an exclusive NFL game for Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime Video and Twitch will stream the 11 Thursday Night Football games that are traditionally broadcast on Fox. The digital stream on Prime Video and Twitch offers interactive features like X-Ray and NextGen stats powered by AWS. Also, viewers can choose to watch either the Fox broadcast or the Fox Deportes Spanish-language coverage, as well as other alternative audio options exclusive to Prime Video, Amazon says.

The NFL and Amazon said that they will continue to collaborate on additional NFL content and enhanced viewing experiences for Thursday Night Football.

Prime Video will also get an exclusive regular season game as part of this new deal. The game, which will be streamed on Prime Video and Twitch, will take place on a Saturday in the second half of the 2020 regular season. The game will be available for free over-the-air in the participating teams’ home markets.

Concerns around coronavirus have raised questions on how the 2020 NFL regular season may be impacted, but as of now the NFL is making plans to play a traditional 17-week regular season and is expected to release its regular season schedule in May. 

The Week Four Thursday Night Football game on Fox between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers was supposed to be exciting beyond the game—which came down to a goal line stand in the final minute—as it was meant to be the debut of the NFL in 4K HDR. But Fox’s gameplan failed for a variety of reasons, allowing for only a limited audience to experience the game in the hi-res format.

As pointed out by both The Verge and Forbes, one of the key issues was formatting. Fox said that the game would be available in HDR on Apple TV and Roku devices, but the live broadcast for the game supported the HLG HDR standard, while streaming devices like Apple TV and Roku support the HDR10 standard, making it incompatible.

The 4K and HDR broadcast was available on DirecTV, Altice Optimum and Fios, and response from viewers was positive about the quality of the image.

Other issues with fans watching the game revolved around networks dropping the coverage. Fox officially blacked out on Dish last Thursday prior to the game over a carriage fee dispute, while Comcast removed the 4K HDR stream from its cable lineup for a still unspecified reason.

For more information, read the full articles from The Verge and Forbes.

Fox, which is adding Thursday Night Football this season, is offering new ad formats that will bring sponsors “closer to the action” during upfront discussions.

Under president for ad revenue Joe Marchese, Fox is looking to create innovative forms of advertising that are more engaging and less interruptive.

During Fox’s upfront presentation on Monday, Marchese is expected to pitch the idea of bringing brands closer to the content in entertainment shows and closer to the action in sports.

The new NFL ad format would appear when a whistle blows. Instead of going to a promo, Fox will go directly to a commercial. A branded animation will tie to game to the commercial. In one example a soda can would appear and “swipe” from the game into the spot. Or the ad could appear at the end of a break, and go directly in to the game, with the promo moved inside the pod.

The idea is to catch fans while they are still attentive, rather than having a promo signal that it’s time to make a sandwich or check the score on another game.

The NFL remains TV’s highest rated programming but viewership fell last season, as did regular-season ad revenue. CBS and NBC, which split the Thursday night NFL package last season both said they lost money on the games.

Fox needs to find ways to boost its NFL revenue.

Last season Fox was among the first television networks to deploy six second spots. They would appear during short breaks in the action, rather than being included in longer pods during official time outs or between quarters.

[Read: Fox Looks To Tap Into Communal Nature Of Sports]

Fox and other networks also employed picture-in-picture ads that showed viewers a commercial while still allowing them to see what’s happening in the stadium.

The idea with both ad formats is to keep viewers engaged.

In addition to pushing its additional NFL inventory—Fox will again claim to own the fall with high rated pro and college football games plus the World Series—Marchese is trying to appeal to advertisers by reducing the commercial load in Fox shows. By the year 2020, Marchese has said he wants Fox to be airing just two minutes’ worth of commercials per hours.

Notably Fox plans to cut ads on Sunday nights by airing only what it calls Jazz pods—commercial breaks with only two 30-second spots. Fox is not lengthening the shows, but instead looks to fill the extra time with branded content, such as movie trailers.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—NBC Sports probably isn’t doing any endzone dances after its first full football broadcast using its SkyCam technology as the primary camera received mixed reviews.

After peaking fan’s curiosity during a game earlier this season between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons—and briefly again during a game between the Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins—due to necessity, the SkyCam view was put to the test during this past week’s “Thursday Night Football” game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans. The view provides a north-south orientation of the field, presenting a more video-game like look than the traditional east-west camera set-up.

Fans were enthusiastic about the opportunity to see more of the SkyCam following these past instances, and NBC Sports obliged. However, once given a full look, fans were much more divided about whether or not this would indeed be the future of football.

Those who loved it praised its ability to show a play develop, providing a better understanding of scheme and players abilities.

“Why all networks don’t use the sky cam more often is beyond me. It’s the best view to watch plays develop, or play Madden,” wrote one Twitter user.

“I don’t understand why anyone would hate this angle. Every game should be skycam. This is EDUCATIONAL FOOTBAW. I have read zero concrete reasons to suppress the skycam other than small-minded fear,” another tweet proclaimed.

Others professed varying forms of undying love for the SkyCam, including one Twitter user comparing it to his surprising enjoyment of anchovies.

Those who disliked the new angle were just as vocal in their disapproval as well. A fan tweeted that SkyCam would “get me to stop watching football. Make camera angels great again!”

Even legendary sports anchors got in on the debate, as Brett Musburger had some not so cordial thoughts toward SkyCam. “Yo NBC Sports. Great job on intimate portrait of a Steelers game. Causal fans don’t give a s--- where safeties are positioned. Ratings are tied to fans, not future coaches.” (Edited for profanity)

Perhaps one of the more objective looks came from ESPN Senior Writer Mina Kimes, who tweeted that the view “Makes it easier to appreciate players’ talent and harder to gauge the outcome of every play.”

“We enjoyed the challenge of presenting last night's game with much of the live action covered by SkyCam,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement released to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review after the broadcast. “As we expected, there was a range of reaction as some fans have become accustomed to the traditional camera angles, while many others were excited to watch the game from a perspective that they've grown up with, but was new to television. We look forward to evaluating the telecast further in the coming days.”

There has been no word as to whether or not NBC Sports will do another game with SkyCam as its primary camera.

Ratings for the game, per NBC Sports, were 13.8 million in Total Audience Delivery across all platforms, which topped the previous week and the same timeframe last season. Viewership peaked at 15.2 million.

Oh, by the way, the Steelers won the football game 40-17.

STAMFORD, CONN.—The people have spoken and NBC Sports has listened. What at first was a necessary improvise during a fog-heavy game between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots on Oct. 22, the use of NBC’s SkyCam as the primary play-by-play camera quickly became something of a revolution for NFL viewers. Now, NBC has announced that the upcoming “Thursday Night Football” game between the Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 16 will feature the SkyCam as the primary viewing camera for the entire game.

Fans reacted positively to the SkyCam camera from the Super Bowl LI rematch in New England and many expressed interest that it would become the new normal for NFL broadcasts; a USA Today poll had 82 percent of fans say they would want it as the main angle for games. The angle was also used early in the third quarter of the “Sunday Night Football” game between the Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins on Nov. 5 because of remaining smoke from halftime fireworks.

Following the game in New England, Fred Guadelli, executive producer of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and “Thursday Night Football,” told ESPN that fans should not expect to see a full NFL broadcast from SkyCam “anytime soon” because of logistical problems for the production. Gaudelli did say in the article that NBC had previously explored SkyCam options, but reaction would seemed to have dictated an accelerated development for broadcast.

“After pivoting out of necessity to SkyCam in the New England fog, we’ve been aggressively planning and testing with the intent of utilizing the system for a full game,” said Gaudelli. Gaudelli mentions that many younger viewers have grown up playing video games like “Madden NFL Football” and that the SkyCam provides an experience akin to that.

According to Gaudelli, NBC will still have its full complement of cameras for the Titans-Steelers game and will revert to the traditional camera angles if/when the situation dictates.

NBC is producing five more “Thursday Night Football” games during the 2017 season, however no word was provided if any of those games would also utilize the SkyCam angle as the primary play-by-play coverage.

SEATTLE—Reports from multiple outlets have indicated that there will be a new streaming home for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, with Amazon paying $50 million for streaming rights to 10 games for the 2017 season. The games will be available exclusively for Amazon Prime members. Twitter held the streaming rights for 10 Thursday Night Football games last season, paying $10 million for the rights.

The full story can be found on TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News.