Advanced Television

Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football delivers increased engagement

January 10, 2023

According to Nielsen Media Research, the inaugural season of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video featured the most streamed NFL contests ever and attracted audiences that were considerably younger, watched more minutes of the game, and commanded higher household incomes than NFL viewers on broadcast and cable platforms. Thursday Night Football finished the season with the youngest median age of any NFL broadcast package since 2013 and enjoyed a double-digit jump over the previous season among hard-to-reach P18-34-year-old viewers.

“Amazon has earned a strong reputation for making big bets, and given the unprecedented scale of this challenge and the hallowed place that NFL coverage holds among millions of fans, the launch of Thursday Night Football ranks high among our most ambitious enterprises,” said Jay Marine, vice president, Prime Video, and global head of sports. “We are only at the beginning of a long-term mission, but are ecstatic with the results and achievements of this first season, bringing millions of new viewers to Prime Video every week.”

“We are incredibly proud of our inaugural exclusive season of TNF, and gratified by the positive response from sports fans, especially hard-to-reach younger fans,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video, Amazon. “Along with a top-notch game broadcast, fans are increasingly looking for fresh voices, optionality, and personalisation, all of which we delivered, and will continue to build upon in the coming seasons.”

Each Thursday throughout the 2022 season, Prime Video presented an NFL presentation with Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, and Kaylee Hartung handling game coverage, as well as unprecedented ways for fans to tailor their viewing experience with multiple alternate streams, instant access to Next Gen Stats powered by AWS, and options such as ‘Rapid Recap’. TNF on Prime’s pregame and postgame talent – including host Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, all-star rookies Ryan Fitzpatrick, Richard Sherman, and Andrew Whitworth, and contributors Taylor Rooks and Michael Smith – made a strong connection with fans, helping to drive more than 285 million video views across TNF’s social channels throughout the year.

Other viewership highlights include.

  • According to Amazon’s first-party viewership measurement, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged 11.3 million viewers (AMA) during the 2022 season.
  • According to Nielsen Media Research figures alone, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged 9.58 million viewers per game (including OTA and OOH) during the 2022 season.
    • Thursday Night Football’s average audience crossed the 10-million mark six times during the 2022 season, ranking TNF games high among the most watched events in all of television.
    • According to Nielsen, the 15-game average of each TNF stream’s peak viewership was 11.30 million.
  • Throughout the 2022 season, fans watching TNF on Prime held a median age of 47 years old, which is seven years younger than the average median age of viewers watching the NFL on linear TV.
  • TNF on Prime finished the season with the lowest median age for a full-season slate of games since 2013, and registered the largest median age gap on record between a stand-alone NFL package and the rest of the NFL packages.

Additional highlights include:

Double-Digit Gains in Viewership Among P18 – 34

  • TNF on Prime’s average viewership among P18-34 was 2.11 million, up +11 per cent compared to 2021 on FOX, NFLN + PV (1.90 million).
  • Among P18-34, TNF won the night all 15 times across broadcast and cable programming throughout the 2022 season.
    • TNF won the week in the P18-34 demographic four times during the 2022 season.
  • Throughout the 2022 season, 22 per cent of TNF on Prime’s viewers were in the P18-34 demographic, compared to 14 per cent of viewers watching the NFL on linear networks. Throughout the fall season, only 7 per cent of viewers watching prime time on linear are in the P18-34 demographic.

Record-Setting Gains in Viewership Among Men 18 – 34

  • Among M18-34, the 2022 TNF season finished up +18 per cent vs. 2021, registering the largest year-over-year jump in that demo for an NFL package since 2014.
  • TNF games, The TNF Postgame, TNF Nightcap and TNF Tonight were the 1st-, 2nd-, 4th-, and 5th-ranked shows on average across broadcast and cable among M18-34 viewers on Thursdays throughout the fall season.

Strong Viewership Among P18 – 49

  • TNF on Prime’s average viewership among P18-49 was 4.70 million viewers.
  • Among P18-49, TNF won the night all 15 times across broadcast and cable programming throughout the 2022 season.
    • Throughout the 2022 season, TNF’s P18-49 viewership crossed the 5-million mark four times.
  • Throughout the 2022 season, 49 per cent of TNF on Prime’s viewers were in the P18-49 demographic, versus 35 per cent of viewers watching the NFL on linear. 22 per cent of viewers watching prime-time television on linear are in the P18-49 demographic.

TNF Outperforms Prime-Time Linear Programming this Fall Season

  • In its first season exclusively on a streaming service, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video was the most watched program on Thursday nights 13 of 15 times this season, outperforming all head-to-head broadcast and cable programming among total viewers P2+.

Thursday Night Football Leads in Viewer Engagement

  • TNF on Prime viewers devoted 85 Average Minutes Watched per game this season, nine minutes longer (+12 per ent) when compared to viewers of linear NFL telecasts (one-minute qualifier, P2+).

Thursday Night Football Pregame and Postgame Coverage Resonates with Fans

  • Despite no lead-in programming, TNF Tonight attracted an average audience (P2+) of 1.12 million viewers throughout the 2022 season; 229,000 among P18-34; and 158,000 among M18-34; 519,000 among P18-49.
  • Throughout the 2022 season, The TNF Postgame Show attracted an average audience (P2+) of 3.32 million viewers; 816,000 among P18-34; 568,000 among M18-34; and 1.87 million among P18-49.
    • Throughout the fall season, The TNF Postgame Show ranks 2nd among prime-time linear programming on Thursdays in the P18-34 demographic.
  • Throughout the 2022 season, TNF Nightcap attracted an average audience (P2+) of 1.68 million viewers; 431,000 among P18-34; 302,000 among M18-34; and 987,000 among P18-49.

Thursday Night Football Viewers Command Higher Household Incomes

  • According to Nielsen, throughout the 2022 season, TNF on Prime viewers earned a Median Household Income of $98,500, which is 19 per cent higher than audiences watching the NFL on linear networks ($82,800).

Amazon First-Party Viewership Measurement

Amazon aggregates direct viewing data from the millions of devices and accounts watching in order to provide a clear and comprehensive understanding of viewership across Amazon’s channels. Amazon first-party viewership metrics deliver insights that combine direct first-party data with Nielsen figures (e.g. OTA and OOH) within a large-scale “broadcast” encoded event, as measured by their panel.

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Content, Premium, Research, VOD

Tags: , , ,