Research firm Antenna estimated Peacock got 2.8 million sign-ups over Wild Card Weekend, making it the “single-biggest subscriber acquisition event” tracked by the company.
Prime Video was the first streaming service to land an exclusive national broadcast deal with the NFL. They finalized a 10-year agreement with the NFL in 2021 that made Prime Video the exclusive home for Thursday Night Football, starting with the 2023 season.
This season’s 16-game package on Prime Video averaged 11.86 million viewers, according to Nielsen, a 24% increase over the 2022 inaugural season. Twelve games averaged more than 10 million, doubling 2022’s number and triggering some performance clauses allowing it to carry a playoff game.
CNBC’s Alex Sherman and Jabari Young reported Amazon is paying the NFL around $1 billion per year as a part of the deal.
There was some fierce backlash toward the NFL for putting a game behind a paywall on Peacock, and some fans are feeling the same way regarding Prime Video claiming rights to a postseason game.
“We’re going to have to pay for everything, aren’t we? Watching ads is no longer enough,” one user commented on X.
“Why do they keep giving streaming services playoff games the fans hate it,” another said.
“You’ll no longer be able to watch games on local tv in the future. You’ll need to sub to 6 different streaming services. Gross,” another commented.
Others do not see the deal as such a bad thing.
“Ehh pretty much everyone has Amazon Prime. It’s not like Peacock where nobody has it,” one fan said.
“There is a massive difference between Prime doing it and Peacock. Chances are someone in the household has prime, that is NOT the case with Peacock. The ‘outrage’ should quieter compared to Peacock,” another said.
KEEP READING: Roger Goodell Addresses Taylor Swift, Playing Surface, Playoffs on Peacock, and More in Super Bowl Press Conference
Speaking with the media ahead of Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the NFL’s strategy regarding having games broadcasted on streaming services.
“We have to fish where the fish are, and we have a lot of consumers that are on those platforms. And the Peacock game showed that,” Goodell said. “Amazon showed that over the last two years. … Our fans are on these platforms and our fans want to access them.”
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