NFL Live Stream: Amazon Wins $50 Million Deal; Twitter, Facebook, YouTube Lose Out

Amazon has scored against Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to land itself a deal with the National Football League (NFL). The one-year deal, valued at about $50 million, will give the online retailer rights to stream 10 Thursday Night Football games, according to reports late Tuesday.

Last season, Twitter’s deal with NFL was said to be about $10 million, five times less than what Amazon will pay for streaming the games online exclusively for its Prime members.

Jeff Bezos’ Seattle-based company has more than 60 million Prime members worldwide, according to analyst estimates, cited by the Wall Street Journal.

“We’re focused on bringing our customers what they want to watch, Prime members want the NFL,” said Amazon Senior Vice President Jeff Blackburn, according to the Journal.

The deal highlights Amazon’s growing push into sports and live content, unlike its competitors Netflix and Hulu that have not ventured into these categories. This is not the first time the e-commerce giant has sought such rights. It has previously explored getting rights for live-streaming the NBA, soccer and surfing leagues.

The move also marks an important trend, wherein the internet is becoming a go-to destination for sports lovers, with traditional cable and satellite connections taking a back seat. Last year, on an average, there were nearly 250,000 viewers who watched the NFL live stream on Twitter. According to Twitter, its debut contract with NFL in 2016 led to more than 40 live-streaming partnerships for the company in areas of sports, entertainment, news and politics. Commenting on the latest development, the San Francisco-based company said in a statement, “The NFL was a great partner to launch our strategy and we will continue to work with them to bring great content to our passionate sports fans,” Bloomberg reported.

Amazon, on its part, called the NFL a “great partner to launch our strategy and we will continue to work with them to bring great content to our passionate sports fans," according to Reuters. The company did not comment on the price of the deal, but several reports cited anonymous sources to reach the $50 million figure.

The NFL’s executive vice president of media, Brian Rolapp, said Amazon’s “deep and rich streaming experience really caught our eye,” the Journal reported.

The Thursday night football games will also be available on television on CBS and NBC, as well as on the NFL Network.