Amazon Prime Video, in recent years, has grown popular because of programs like “The Boys” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Adding Thursday Night Football (TNF) will only bring more subscribers to the streaming service and help Prime Video become one of the top streaming services. TNF broadcasting rights have moved around between the NFL Network, CBS, NBC, and FOX. TNF couldn’t find a home until Amazon made a deal with the NFL in March last year. Amazon was initially slated to start broadcasting during the 2023 NFL season, but it started in the 2022 NFL season. The deal between Amazon and NFL will last for 11 years and cost the tech giants about $1 billion annually through 2033.

“Thursday Night Football” made its debut on Prime Video on September 15th and averaged 13 million viewers for its debut live stream of the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs football game. According to Nielsen, a viewership tracker acquired by Amazon in August of this year, the Chiefs and Chargers was also the most watched program of the night, and number 2 was CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” with 3.5 million viewers. This first TNF broadcast created more Prime signups than big shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Week 2 of Amazon’s TNF game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns averaged 11.03 million viewers. Even when Hurricane Ian hit Florida, TNF outperformed all linear programming on cable TV and broadcasts. Week 3 of Amazon streaming TNF averaged 11.7 million viewers, more than the previous week.

Amazon’s Prime Video is trying to become more of a powerhouse regarding streaming. Prime Video obtaining the rights to Thursday night football is a good choice since it will bring many viewers to tune into Amazon Prime Video. Adding sports also makes those with Amazon feel like Prime Video is worth it since I know many people who have Amazon but don’t use Prime Video. Amazon will continue to gain more viewership as the season goes on and will also continue to attract more of a younger demographic to the NFL, as it has done for all the games streamed on Prime Video. TNF on Amazon has a median age of 46, seven years younger than viewers on any other NFL broadcasting platform. Prime Video will continue to benefit from acquiring TNF as the season continues to profit from Prime membership subscriptions.