With the goal of becoming profitable by the end of the year, Amazon Prime is doubling down on advertisers' favourite place to spend their money: live sports.
Driving the news: The company is reportedly shifting its focus (and budget) away from original content and towards sports, building on the ~US$3 billion per year it already dishes out to the NFL, NBA and NHL for streaming rights.
- Last year, Amazon bought the exclusive rights to all Monday-night NHL games in Canada for the next two seasons as part of a wider push into hockey.
- The company also locked up the rights for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football until 2028, paying US$1 billion per season to stream the weekly matchup.
Why it matters: With pockets deep enough to scoop up even more broadcasting rights, Prime could become a household staple for sports in the same way Netflix has become a must-have subscription for TV and movies.
- Prime Video is already the second most popular streaming service for live sports in Canada, trailing only Rogers-owned Sportsnet.
Bottom line: Live sports has become as sure-fire a bet as any content in the world for luring viewers and ad dollars. In Canada alone, time watching sports has jumped 3% in the last seven years while overall TV viewership has declined 28%.—LA