It’s a tradition for sports fans to gather around the television with friends and families to cheer (or jeer) their favorite football teams. While this is still true, how they’re watching is changing as more viewers make the switch from linear TV to streaming. According to eMarketer’s projection, one-third of the U.S. population (118 million people) are predicted to stream live sports in 2025, a 71% increase compared to 2021.
2022 marks a new chapter for live sports viewing as Prime Video and Twitch are now the exclusive streaming home to Thursday Night Football (TNF). As Roger Goodell said earlier this year, “Amazon Prime is going to change the way people watch football.”
The historic, 11-year partnership between the NFL and Amazon gives advertisers the opportunity to reach passionate sports fans that, based on a recent study, are more tech-savvy, active and engaged than the NFL viewer on traditional linear TV.
During the 2021 season, Thursday Night Football was presented as part of a tri-cast with Fox, NFL Network and Prime Video. Using Amazon’s first-party insights of 2021 TNF audiences and brand lift measurement studies conducted by Kantar, we’ve tackled how audiences streaming live sports differ from NFL viewers on traditional TV.
So, with the 2022 season kickoff only a month away, here are a few key takeaways about Amazon’s Thursday Night Football audience.
A younger, tech-savvy, cord-cutter audience
Amazon Thursday Night Football can help brands better reach younger adult Gen Z and millennial audiences than traditional linear NFL channels. On average, Amazon TNF viewers self-report to be five years younger than linear NFL viewers. Additionally, 38% of TNF streamers from the 2021 season reported that they don’t have a pay-TV service, meaning they can’t be reached via traditional TV.
An active audience with high purchase propensity
Amazon TNF viewers self-report to have a 36% higher household income range than linear NFL viewers. They also shared that they’re active in their personal and professional lives, presenting a great opportunity for advertisers to reach a dynamic audience with higher in-market purchase propensities, as compared to linear NFL viewers.
A highly engaged audience with brands and ads
In the 2021 TNF season, Amazon TNF viewers self-reported spending an average of 1.6 hours per game on streaming, 23% higher than the average TNF game viewing time on linear channels. And with 87% of 2021 Amazon TNF viewers self-reporting that they took some action related to a brand during the game, Amazon Thursday Night Football can help brands connect with viewers who are more receptive and have a stronger likelihood to interact with brands and ads than linear NFL viewers.
The opportunity to reach the next generation of sports fans
Through Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, advertisers have the opportunity to reach audiences at scale. There are over 80 million active Prime Video households in the U.S., and combined with streaming TNF on Twitch, advertisers have access to a potential unduplicated audience of 130 million monthly viewers across the U.S.
Advertisers can use Amazon’s Streaming TV ads to reach audiences that tune into Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, while also appearing alongside content across Freevee, Twitch, top-tier network and broadcaster apps, and Fire TV’s curated News app. Using Amazon’s first-party insights, brands will be able to continue the conversation with these viewers by re-engaging them across Amazon to help drive further impact.
In addition to Thursday Night Football, Prime members from around the world can now watch live sporting events like the Premier League, US Open, Next Gen ATP Finals, WTA, UEFA Champions League, Roland-Garros, Ligue 1, WNBA and more, and can subscribe to streaming services such as MLB.TV, NBA League Pass and NBA TV through Prime Video Channels (availability varies by region).
Reinvented ad experiences are the future for brands looking to connect with the next generation of sports fans.
