Amazon Bounces Back With Record Viewership

Amazon’s presentation of the NFL on Prime Video is back on track after disappointing results from its first Black Friday experiment.

The Dallas Cowboys’ thrilling 41-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football averaged 15.26 million viewers — surpassing Week 2’s Vikings-Eagles matchup (15.05M) as Prime Video’s most-watched game ever.

Amazon also claims that Thursday’s contest was the most-streamed NFL game in history — with the caveat that it measures with an average minute audience and includes only Prime Video, Twitch, and NFL+. However, it’s unlikely that CBS, Fox, or ESPN streaming services would approach this number. 

As more fans adjust to the streaming reality in the second season of Amazon’s exclusive ownership of TNF, the tech giant should be encouraged with its progress in the NFL — even accounting for a speed bump or two. 

Seahawks-Cowboys represented a 53% increase in viewership from Week 13’s Bills-Patriots matchup in 2022. To this point, all 11 games on Prime Video have experienced double-digit year-over-year viewership increases.

It also represents a big rebound for Amazon after its inaugural Black Friday game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets averaged 9.61 million viewers to be the second-least-viewed game on Prime Video this season; its 4.0 rating was the lowest for any game on Prime this year.

The Cowboys continue to jockey with its NFC East rivals in Philadelphia for the title of the NFL’s most popular team: Dallas’ blowout win on Thanksgiving was the most-watched game of the season and the second-most-watched regular season game of all time.