As the first Black Friday game nears kickoff, Prime Video and the NFL are looking ahead to a new postprandial pigskin tradition

Prime Video executives aren’t ready to guarantee high ratings with the first NFL game on Black Friday. Above all, they hope to spark a new annual pop culture event the day after Thanksgiving.

“We’ll see how it goes, but our expectation and the NFL’s expectation is that it will become an annual tradition,” Jay Marine, VP Prime Video and global head of sports, said during a media conference.

The duel on the field between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins looked a lot better on paper than it was planned last spring. Since new star quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered an injury on the opening night of the season in September, the Jets have faced turmoil and the Dolphins are the clear favorites.

Regardless of how competitive the game turns out to be on Friday, Amazon scores impressive ratings in its second year of exclusive distribution of Prime Video Thursday night football. So far in 2023, the weekly competition has averaged 12.27 million viewers over ten broadcasts, a significant 26% increase on last season’s average at the same point in the season.

When asked about Amazon’s viewership expectations, Marine said he “doesn’t want to speculate.” It’s a new window.” Still, he continued, “We’re optimistic because people are at home.” … I expect it to grow year after year.” The company and the league approach Friday as the start of the “”Building a franchise that spans a decade,” Marine said.

Hans Schroeder, NFL EVP and COO, said the second year of the league’s 11-year relationship with Prime Video “felt right” as a time to deepen the relationship. Amazon reportedly paid $100 million to transfer the rights from Thursday to the next day, which is also a typical increase in traffic to the e-commerce giant’s main website. (CBS, NBC and Fox retain the rights to the three Thanksgiving Day games.)

“After looking through the calendar to see where there might be areas for expansion or adding additional tent poles and touchpoints, Black Friday quickly came to mind,” Schroeder recalls. Amazon’s DNA as a company suggested it could help the league create an opportunity at the “intersection of commerce and gaming.” When it comes to combining shopping and exercise, he added, “who better to do” than Amazon?

Marine said the Black Friday event is “a big deal for us.” … We put everything behind it. We’ll embrace the day.” Retail discounts will be offered via QR codes displayed during the broadcast and following the game, which begins at 3:00 PM ET at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, find exclusive concert by Garth Brooks Post Unlike the Thursday night game, the Friday game is also open to non-Prime members, which could boost the numbers.

Schroeder said that Amazon’s overall capabilities, bolstered by years of investment in technology and broadcast rights, “made our decision easier” to play on Black Friday. The league landed a 3 p.m. start after looking at other slots, including prime time, but decided to avoid overlapping with high school and college football on Friday nights and instead find a spot where most adults and school-age children is home during the day.

Due to the nature of streaming, Prime Video viewers of NFL games average about 8 years younger than linear viewers. It also provides opportunities to increase engagement. “In an OTT streaming world, there are things you can do differently than in a traditional one-way broadcast, because we know everyone is logged in and therefore connected,” he said. In addition to ad targeting, digital capabilities include alternative broadcasting, data-driven analytics and product integrations.

For decades, Thanksgiving Day games have been hosted by the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. In contrast, Schroeder said the league will rotate Black Friday around the country in the near future, similar to the Super Bowl or the NFL Draft.

As for how Amazon will determine whether its Black Friday gambit worked, Marine said, “It’s a success when our customers say, ‘Wow, that was cool.'” I can’t wait for them to do this every year. . It was fun.'”