On Tuesday, Amazon announced Prime Video will stream an NFL game for free on Black Friday.
For the first time in league history, a game will be played the day after Thanksgiving. Teams for the Nov. 24 game will be announced soon. There will be 16 regular season games on Prime Video during the 2023 season, from Weeks 2-17. A preseason game will also be on Prime Video.
The paywall has been up before for Prime Video’s international customers, but only for its sports content. Last year, it gave everyone in France access to Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic’s quarterfinal match at the French Open since it co-owned the rights. As Prime Video exclusive, last season averaged 9.58 million viewers of “Thursday Night Football.” The 15-game package on Prime Video had an average Nielsen rating of 9.58 million. Amazon’s first-party viewers averaged 11.3 million.
The ratings were the most watched 13 out of 15 times, including Game 5 of the World Series, which was streaming. It was the first time Nielsen tracked and included ratings from a streaming service. As expected, Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, and Kaylee Hartung will broadcast for Prime Video. A new game producer will replace Fred Gaudelli.
Thanksgiving week likely won’t see teams on a bye since there are seven important broadcast windows to fill — Thanksgiving, Black Friday, late Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, Monday night.
Alexis Boutilier is from Vancouver, British Columbia. She has a high interest in all things tech and loves to stay engaged on all the latest appliances and accessories.