How Amazon Made a Stronger Partnership Play in Thursday Night Football in Year 5

It's the fifth season in Prime Video's 11-year Thursday Night Football deal, and Amazon is looking to expand its playbook with partners. Amid the latest season of TNF, which just saw the Chicago Bears take down the New England Patriots 30-24, Prime Video posted healthy advertiser growth numbers, showing Thursday Night Football advertisers up 6% year over year, with double-digit growth across financial services, retailers, hardlines, auto, and travel. Meanwhile, 17% of advertisers this season were new to TNF and Prime Video. When it comes to that success with brands, Amy McDevitt, head of live sports sales partnerships, Amazon Ads, said the latest season is about getting advertisers to lean in to Prime Video's offerings and expand their relationship across the company. "It's less of a story about what is new, given that we are going into year five, but it's more about getting brands to do more and go bigger in some of these technical capabilities that we offer with our ad products," McDevitt said. American Express is among the brands leaning into Prime Video's offerings in 2026. Heading into the new NFL season, Amex became the Official Payments Partner of the NFL. According to Jessica Ling, evp of global advertising at American Express, over 70% of Amex card members are NFL fans, so the NFL is a way to reach members where they're most passionate. "It's not a net new strategy, but it is certainly a game changer in the world of sports and sponsorships," Ling told ADWEEK. As part of its partnership, Amex is showing up at stadiums, creating activations, and looking to enrich the NFL experience for fans, meeting them where they're at. That also means making its presence known in NFL broadcasts. "Prime Video for us is a big opportunity to not just be in commercial inventory, but also to be integrated into programming that is an extension of the game itself," Ling said. "It maximizes the engagement and the authenticity." To bring Amex closer to the game, the brand joined Prime Video as the presenting partner of Thursday Night Football's Kickoff pre-game show, hosted by broadcaster Charissa Thompson, showing up in graphics packages, appearing on social, and airing spots during the broadcast. But as part of its presence across Amazon, Amex is also showing up in other properties, including NBA coverage and the Kelce brothers' New Heights podcast from Wondery. Utilizing a combination of properties brings additional ROI to brands, McDevitt said, with Amazon providing insights and measuring success along the way. It's an offering that's grown at Amazon in the fifth season of its NFL deal, with the company now having a multi-sport portfolio, including NBA, NASCAR, WNBA, golf, and alternate creator casts across Twitch. "Sports fans are always on and everywhere, and so you're not doing it justice if you're just running spots in the live event. You need to be on social. You need to be where the highlights are being rewatched and analyzed. You need to be in the Tuesday morning conversations that are happening after the football weekend is fully wrapped," McDevitt said. The company notes that activating across multiple Prime Video sports properties brings more than double unduplicated reach, while multi-sport viewers drive 12% higher spend and 17% more orders on Amazon. And with features such as Amazon's audience-based creative, which delivers a specific creative based on the audience, McDevitt noted that brands are tailoring and optimizing their messaging to deliver advertising that's more engaging to viewers. "The fan that's watching the game is going to react more positively to that messaging because you're speaking to them about a topic that they came to Prime Video to watch," McDevitt said. "You're not taking them out of the game environment and the NFL mentality to deliver your message."

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How Amazon Made a Stronger Partnership Play in Thursday Night Football in Year 5

Prime Video's Thursday Night Football advertisers are up 6% year over year

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