The much-awaited debut of the first-ever NFL Black Friday game is coming at 3pm EST today, courtesy of Amazon Prime Video (AMZN). This latest move serves as another blow to traditional television.
Amazon secured an 11-year deal to broadcast NFL Thursday Night Football by agreeing to spend $1 billion annually. On the other hand, Google’s YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL) reportedly coughed up a hefty $2.5 billion for the sought-after rights to NFL Sunday Ticket.
These deals come at a time when traditional media is grappling with significant streaming losses and sharp declines in linear advertising revenue. According to a recent note from Macquarie, media networks have seen a 12% decline in revenue from linear ads in the latest quarter.
Conversely, non-linear TV ad sales have grown by 7%, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) services have posted a 29% average ad revenue growth.
Amazon and the NFL: ‘A perfect marriage’
Reportedly, Amazon is charging $880,000 for a 30-second ad spot, more than double the traditional rate for Thursday Night Football games.
Speaking about the unique opportunities provided by this event, Danielle Carney, head of NFL ad-sales for Amazon, confirmed the company’s plans for extensive ad inventory and interactive video ads during the game.
“When we talked with the NFL, this is a perfect marriage,” Prime Video Vice President Jay Marine told the Associated Press (AP). “We’re really putting everything behind this.”
Besides being a shopping extravaganza, Amazon is hoping the Black Friday game will add to the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day success. Last year’s Thanksgiving games averaged 33.5 million viewers, with the most-watched regular-season game of all time attracting 42 million viewers.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at [email protected].
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