Amazon’s Advertising Blitz Ahead Of First ‘Thursday Night Football’

If consumers don’t know “Thursday Night Football” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video tonight, it won’t be from lack of trying.

Amazon is leveraging its power as the country’s No. 1 ecommerce site with an advertising and marketing blitz for tonight’s stream of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Chargers. 

Starting Wednesday, TNF took over the top of the Amazon.com home page with a giant video starring QBs Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. The promotional video even features Herbert drawing the signature Amazon arrow brand logo.

On Amazon Prime Video, a countdown clock ticks off the hours, minutes, and seconds to tonight’s game. The ads note the game is free with an Amazon Prime Video membership. Or you can sign up for a free 30-day trial on the spot. 

Naturally, for the world’s biggest online retailer, you can click elsewhere to buy Chiefs/Chargers gear as well as Amazon Fire TVs.

There’s also an official landing page offering how-to-watch information, details on tonight’s alternative feeds and a come-on for the premier of the new comedy show, “The NFL Pile On,” which debuts at 7 p.m. ET. 

Meanwhile, Amazon has been advertising the coming TNF on millions of boxes it ships out to customers.

“The entire Amazon company is behind this initiative, so I hope you got some boxes and you’ll be seeing more ads as you come to any of our services this week,” said Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of global sports video. “You won’t be able to miss the game.” 

It will take time to calculate how many consumers were reached by TNF’s Amazon marketing takeover. But the number will probably be staggering.

The number of unique monthly visitors coming to Amazon’s web site and app is estimated between 2 and 3 billion. Amazon Prime boasts roughly 140 million paying members in the U.S. — and 200 million around the world. 

Amazon is paying the NFL $1 billion annually through 2033 for the rights to exclusively stream 15 regular-season games and one preseason game a season. The online giant offers several different Prime pricing plans including yearly ($139), monthly ($14.99) or Prime Video only ($8.99).

Tonight will also feature the regular season debut of Amazon’s TNF announce team of play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, analyst Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung.