There is little to no precedent for such numbers. Reaching that figure, while millions of average viewers below a typical NFL broadcast, would mark an astonishing success in sports streaming. But we’re feeling very confident that over the term of our deal with the NFL, fans will become more accustomed to coming to OTT to watch the game.” OTT is an acronym for “over the top,” the industry jargon for streaming.Īmazon has promised its game advertisers an average viewership of 12.5 million, a company source said, and those ratings will be Nielsen-rated, which is a first for streaming. “And so things you can look at, trends and things, don’t happen on a dime, things don’t happen instantly. “Sports fans need to develop a different muscle memory,” Donoghue said. Amazon’s TNF package - 15 regular-season games - adds to that trend. It’s becoming more difficult to find your sports broadcast, with some MLB games, for example, suddenly stripped from their regional sports channel perches and flung seemingly randomly onto streamers like Apple Plus, Peacock, and yes, Amazon Prime. Amazon paid handsomely, more than $1 billion annually for 11 years, which has led to fan angst about what the broadcast will look like, whether they can even find it, and if the whole exercise is a way for the conglomerate simply to sell more merchandise. Because for those concerned about a revolution in viewing the NFL, what they will mostly see instead is akin to comfort food, a traditional game broadcast.Īmazon’s vice president of Global Sports Video is spearheading the move of TNF entirely to streaming, other than local broadcasts of the two teams competing. Marie Donoghue has a message to football fans worried about “Thursday Night Football” moving mainly to Amazon’s Prime streaming platform: exhale.

Amazon fire tv saying all things done