Amazon Prime Video Secures Exclusive NFL Week 14 Game Rights

This exclusive NFL game on Prime Video highlights the increasing investment by streaming services in premium live sports rights. For content owners, it represents expanded distribution and new monetization avenues, while for platforms, it's a critical tool for subscriber acquisition and retention. The move also impacts traditional broadcasters, who face intensified competition for marquee events. What to watch next are further exclusive deals for major sports leagues and their effects on linear TV viewership figures.

Amazon's commitment to live sports, particularly NFL, is significant. Prime Video's 2025 "Thursday Night Football" (TNF) season averaged 15.33 million viewers, marking a 16% increase over 2024 and making it the most-watched TNF season in the package's 20-year history (The Futon Critic, January 2026). This growth follows a 2024 TNF season that averaged 13.2 million viewers, an 11% increase from 2023, making Prime Video the only NFL broadcast partner to show year-over-year growth (Sportico, January 2025). The 2025 Black Friday Football game also recorded 16.33 million viewers, a 21% increase from the previous year. Amazon's internal data suggests that TNF audiences are nearly seven years younger than those watching NFL on linear channels, an attractive demographic for advertisers (The Futon Critic, January 2026).

Despite the viewership success and advertising revenue, Amazon reportedly loses an estimated $650-750 million annually on TNF when accounting for the $1 billion rights fee, production costs, and only a portion of advertising revenue (ArthNova, recent). However, Amazon views these losses as strategic, aiming to drive Prime membership acquisition and retention, which translates to billions in customer lifetime value (ArthNova, recent). The NFL's Wild Card playoff game in January 2026 set a new Amazon Prime Video streaming record, drawing 31.61 million viewers for the Bears-Packers matchup, further demonstrating the platform's capacity for large-scale live events (Deadline, January 2026). Amazon is also expanding its sports portfolio, with recent NBA and WNBA rights acquisitions, and expressed interest in MLB and UFC rights, as well as future Super Bowl coverage (Sportico, January 2025).