If you didn’t like an NFL Playoff game airing exclusively on Peacock this season, then there is good news and bad news: there won’t be one on Peacock next year. But there will reportedly be another Playoff game on a streaming-only platform — this time on Amazon’s Prime Video.
The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint reported Friday that Amazon edged out Peacock for the rights to next year’s Playoff game. It will be the first-ever NFL Playoff game on Amazon’s Prime Video, which has been streaming Thursday Night Football games since 2017. But those rights were digital-only and non-exclusive as the NFL still aired the game on network television. That changed starting this season after Prime won the exclusive rights to air Thursday Night Football in an 11-year deal.
Flint wrote that Amazon was reportedly offered the rights to this year’s Wild Card Playoff game instead of Peacock, but passed. Peacock wanted the game again next year but per Flint, Amazon exercised a clause in its Thursday Night Football contract that gave Prime Video first dibs.
There really isn’t a fair comparison of Prime Video to Peacock, considering the former has far more subscribers. But Peacock (under the NBC Universal umbrella) got the bang for its buck for the Playoff game, per Flint, who reported that a subscription analytics firm estimated 2.8 million new subscribers over a three-day period leading up to the Chiefs-Dolphins Wild Card game. The game on Peacock obliterated U.S. streaming records, averaging 23 million viewers.
Peacock costs less money per month to subscribe, but Prime Video at least simulcasted its Thursday Night Football games on the (Amazon-owned) free streaming platform Twitch. It’s unclear whether that will happen for the Playoff game, but it would certainly help as the only places the game is shown on network television is in the local markets for each team.
Since winning the exclusive Thursday Night Football rights in 2021, Amazon has been working hard to enhance its broadcast, even adding a postgame show and bringing on Al Michaels.
It has not yet been reported how much money it cost Amazon to secure next year’s Playoff game, but Peacock shelled out over $100 million.
Source: https://uproxx.com/sports/amazon-prime-peacock-streaming-only-nfl-playoffs/
