Week 2 action of the NFL season begins with a Commanders-Packers matchup that kicks off Amazon Prime Video’s fourth year exclusively streaming the $1 billion annual Thursday Night Football package, which continues to see its profile grow.
After TNF ratings rose 13% to 13.2 million viewers per game last season and Amazon broadcast its first NFL playoff game, the streamer will get its first Christmas Day game this season—a Broncos-Chiefs matchup in prime time to cap off the league’s holiday tripleheader. That will come four weeks after Amazon’s third Black Friday game, this season featuring Bears-Eagles.
Last season, the NFL flexed a Thursday night matchup for the first time, substituting a Week 16 Broncos-Chargers game with playoff seeding implications in for a less-meaningful Browns-Bengals game. This offseason, NFL owners voted to lower the notice required to flex a TNF game from 28 to 21 days—a move supported by Amazon brass.
“On a Thursday night in December you might have a game that you weren’t that interested in all of a sudden become a game that’s going to be two teams that you’re excited to see or a team that you’re like, ‘Man, this team has surprised all of us, we’d love for the whole entire world to get to see them on a primetime stage,’” said Amazon NFL analyst Andrew Whitworth, who works on the streamer’s pregame show. “I think that’s a really cool opportunity for players, for teams, and organizations to create special moments. And so I think that’s pretty special.”
Games in Weeks 14–16 this season will be eligible for TNF flexing.
Meanwhile, Amazon continues to add new AI-based “Prime Insights” features to its main and alternate TNF broadcasts, as well as more interactive shopping integrations during NFL games.
