Aaron Rodgers, #8 of the New York Jets, warms up prior to the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Aug. 26, 2023.
Mike Stobe | Getty Images
On any given Sunday, there will be an unprecedented number of National Football League (NFL) games available for streaming, with some exclusively on streaming services.
The NFL season kicks off with the Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, hosting the Detroit Lions on Thursday. Since this opener is scheduled as a “Sunday Night Football” game, it will be aired on both the NBCUniversal broadcast network and its streaming app, Peacock.
This shift towards streaming is a more aggressive strategy following several seasons of companies like Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, and Disney’s ESPN showing games simultaneously on streaming services and traditional TV. Media companies are now enhancing their streaming platforms with exclusive content to attract more subscribers and retain them long-term.
Later in the season, Peacock, Disney’s ESPN+, and Amazon will exclusively stream certain games. Google’s YouTube TV and the NFL’s streaming service will also become major players in the streaming market.
Streaming is expected to play a bigger role in NFL viewership as Disney’s networks have been blacked out for Charter Communications customers, potentially leading football fans to opt for internet TV bundles like Fubo.
When media giants signed NFL media rights deals in 2021, valued at over $100 billion, many of these deals included streaming rights. In addition, this past year, Google’s YouTube TV acquired the media rights to the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” for about $2 billion annually, making the out-of-market games available exclusively through streaming.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell advocated for a streaming-only home for “Sunday Ticket,” believing it to be the best option for consumers.
Who’s streaming the NFL?
More and more NFL games are being offered through streaming services alongside their broadcast and pay-TV counterparts. However, this season will see a greater number of games exclusively available on streaming platforms.
“I don’t think simulcasts had a significant impact on streaming services, which is why they’re focusing more on exclusive content,” said Daniel Cohen, executive vice president of global media rights consulting at Octagon.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock will air two exclusive games this season. It has already started simulcasting “Sunday Night Football” on both NBC and Peacock. The first regular season game exclusively on Peacock will take place in December, featuring the Buffalo Bills against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Furthermore, the first-ever solely streamed NFL wild card playoff game will be available on Peacock in January.
Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, mentioned that expanding the digital distribution of NFL content while maintaining broad reach is a key priority for the league. Bringing an exclusive NFL playoff game to Peacock’s streaming platform is a step forward in this strategy.
The NFL has been successful in attracting more subscribers to Peacock, as stated by Comcast executives on recent investor calls. As of June 30, Peacock had 24 million subscribers.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ Skyy Moore celebrates scoring a touchdown, Feb. 12, 2023.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
“Sunday Night Football,” the highest-rated prime-time show on TV, averaged nearly 20 million viewers last year. Its Peacock audience has been gradually growing in the single-digit percentage range.
Paramount+ airs games on both CBS and its Paramount+ platform, but it doesn’t offer any exclusives. Fox Corp., which also owns the rights to Sunday NFL games, doesn’t stream games except through its authenticated app, which requires a pay-TV subscription.
Disney, holding the rights to “Monday Night Football,” will exclusively air an international NFL game on ESPN+ for the second time since last season.
Additionally, Disney’s broadcast network ABC will exclusively air games that are also available on ESPN+, along with some “Monday Night Football” games that air on ESPN. As of July 1, ESPN+ had 25.2 million subscribers.
A larger number of people may opt for streaming services to watch “Monday Night Football” this season if the carriage blackout between Charter Communications and Disney continues. Disney has informed Charter customers that they can subscribe to internet TV bundles like Hulu + Live TV.
In the meantime, Amazon’s Prime Video, which became the home of “Thursday Night Football” last season, will exclusively stream the first-ever Black Friday game after Thanksgiving, with the New York Jets hosting the Miami Dolphins.
Amazon’s inaugural “Thursday Night Football” game last season attracted more than 13 million viewers, making it the most streamed game ever, according to Nielsen. Amazon also saw a record number of Prime signups during the game’s debut.
Moreover, those interested in watching out-of-market games through “Sunday Ticket” will need to subscribe to YouTube TV, as the package shifts away from satellite-TV provider DirecTV for the first time ever.
The NFL’s own streaming service, NFL+, will also offer an enhanced experience this year, providing access to the NFL Network and NFL RedZone channels.
However, the effectiveness of these exclusive games in driving subscriptions remains uncertain, according to Cohen.
“One of three things will happen,” Cohen said. “Fans will either not care enough to pay for a subscription, sign up for a free trial and cancel afterwards, or resort to piracy to watch the game.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
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