NFL streaming begins a new era with Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football”

The era of National Football League games only airing on a streaming service is here, much to the joy and chagrin of football fans across the United States.

This coming season, “Thursday Night Football” will air exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, making it the first time in league history that a streaming service has carried a full slate of national games. The San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans play in a preseason game on August 25, bringing in the new era. The Los Angeles Chargers’ Week 2 NFL match against the Kansas City Chiefs on September 15 will mark the debut of Amazon’s regular season. The games will also be carried on local radio stations for the teams participating in a particular week.

This week, Amazon agreed to a partnership with Nielsen to measure the telecasts, demonstrating its confidence in expected high ratings. According to a May statement from the firm, 80 million US users have viewed Amazon Prime Video at least once in the last year. To put things in perspective, Netflix had 73.3 million paying monthly customers in the United States and Canada at the end of the second quarter. In the United States and Canada, Disney+ had 44.5 million members at the conclusion of its most recent quarter.

To watch the games, one must either purchase an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 annually, or a Prime Video subscription, which costs $8.99 per month.

New game features:

Live games will instantly begin playing when users log onto Amazon.com in order to draw viewers toward the NFL broadcast, which costs Amazon $1 billion annually. The games will also be prominently displayed on Prime Video’s home screen to draw viewers’ attention to the fact that they are being played in real time.

The option to watch, record, or replay the broadcast will be available to viewers. They will also have the choice to record the complete schedule of Thursday night games for the season if they prefer not to continue recording individual games.

Additionally, Amazon is introducing new technological features. The majority of platforms will have “X-Ray stats,” which will allow viewers to watch real-time statistics on screen (a deal with Roku is still being worked out). They will also contain so-called next-generation statistics, such as average throw time for quarterbacks and yards after contact for running backs and receivers, in addition to conventional metrics like yards and touchdowns. The outfits of the players will be improved with chips from Amazon Web Services, enabling real-time changes.

For those who missed the opening action and want to catch up, Amazon will also offer a consumer package of highlights via X-Ray that updates during the game. Users of Fire TV will be able to speak commands into the remote control, such as “play the last touchdown” or “show me stats.” For Thursday Night Football’s start of the regular season, those features will be available.

Amazon will also offer alternate broadcasts for those who prefer a less serious telecast, starting with the well-known comedic YouTube group Dude Perfect. This follows a trend set by Disney’s ESPN and Paramount Global. Over time, Amazon intends to provide more alternative streams.

Growing pains

Expect some growth pains. For instance, Amazon is preparing for criticism from upset viewers whose internet connections might not be sufficient to support a livestream or from viewers who are still unsure of how to navigate streams.

“Free of bandwidth and channel limits that constrain optionality on linear platforms, our promise is to continually listen to our customers, iterate and intentionally develop new and better ways for more fans to enjoy the games,” said Amazon spokesman Tim Buckman.

Regarding its main broadcast, Amazon is certain that viewers will be satisfied. While Apple TV+ first faced a lot of criticism for attempting to stand apart with its Major League Baseball games, according to Buckman, Amazon’s objective is to be outstanding at providing the core game viewing experience before becoming innovative.

Al Michaels, a legendary broadcaster who left NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” and veteran college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit will serve as Amazon’s play-by-play announcers.