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Amazon Prime Video continues to defy expectations with strong numbers for “Thursday Night Football.”
The e-commerce giant averaged 13.6 million viewers for its exclusive stream of the Cleveland Browns’ 29-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to Amazon’s first-party measurements and preliminary Nielsen research. By Nielsen numbers alone, the game averaged 11.03 million viewers.
Amazon is off to a fast start on its 11-year partnership with the NFL worth $1 billion a year.
Some observers thought Amazon would struggle to post 8 million viewers per week. But the online giant averaged 15.3 million for its first live stream.
Yes, the Steelers are a big national TV draw.
But attracting over 13 million for a game featuring the unheralded Jacoby Brissett and Mitch Trubisky at quarterback indicates early numbers were no fluke.
More on Amazon’s TNF numbers:
- Whether you go by Amazon or Nielsen’s numbers, Thursday’s stream topped many tentpole sports and entertainment events. TNF beat CBS Sports’ final-round Masters coverage (10.2M) and surpassed this year’s Grammy Awards (9.6M) and Emmy Awards (5.9M).
- TNF was the most watched and highest-rated program of the day on broadcast and cable television across multiple demos. They included: total viewers (11.03M), Adults 18-49 (4.27 TV rating), Adults 25-54 (4.75 rating), and Adults 18-34 (4.0 rating).
- The stream earned twice as many viewers as the second-most-watched TV show Thursday night, NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” (5.5M).
Amazon Viewers Are Six Years Younger
All sports leagues are trying to attract hard-to-reach younger viewers. The NFL is pleased by Amazon’s ability to attract a younger audience.
The median age of the TNF audience is 46 compared to 52 for the average game telecast on linear TV. Rival NFL TV partners are watching closely. It will be interesting to see if TNF can widen that gap this season.
