Amazon Touts ‘Thursday Night Football’ Total Viewers Up 22% to 14.7 Million in First Seven Weeks

Amazon has amassed a bigger crowd of gridiron fans so far in its second season streaming the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.”

The seven “Thursday Night Football” games streamed so far for the 2018 season on Prime Video and Twitch (weeks 4-10) drew a combined 14.7 million total viewers in over 200 countries and territories, including all 50 U.S. states, according to Amazon. That’s up 22% versus the same time last year.

Moreover, the average minute audience (AMA) watching NFL games on Prime Video and Twitch for at least 30 seconds averaged around 455,000 through those seven games, 36% higher than this time last year. The expansion of “TNF” to free streaming on Amazon-owned Twitch is new this season, contributing to the ecommerce company’s overall audience increase.

For the NFL’s 2018 season overall, TV ratings to date through the first 10 weeks are up 3% on average, per Nielsen estimates, after an initial decline in the first three weeks — a turnaround from the audience drops the league saw the past two seasons.

The U.S. TV audience for “TNF” games is down around 5% year-over-year to date, but it’s impossible to tell how much of that Amazon is responsible for peeling off. It’s possible the prior-year matchups were simply bigger draws. The NFL’s hypothesis was that the digital streaming rights sold to Amazon would help it boost total audience reach, particularly overseas.

Amazon has four more “TNF” games this season, including the Nov. 15 Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks matchup. The preshow starts at 7:30 p.m. ET, with kickoff at 8:20 p.m. ET.

For 2018, Amazon is offering Fox’s feed of 11 “Thursday Night Football” games this season (all of which are simulcast on Fox broadcast, Fox Deportes, and NFL Network). The company also acquired “TNF” streaming rights for the NFL’s 2019 season.

Other tidbits Amazon shared about “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video:

• Outside of the U.S., Mexico has represented the largest streaming audience followed by Canada

• Prime Video members in California have streamed “TNF” more than any other state, followed by customers in Washington and Texas

• On a per-capita basis, Prime Video members in North Dakota have streamed more hours of “TNF” on Prime Video than any other state

• New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was the most-viewed player on X-Ray for Fire TV “Thursday Night Football” experience, followed by Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins

Prime and Prime Video members worldwide can stream the “TNF” games via the Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices, and online at amazon.com/video/tnf. Viewers can watch the games called by Fox’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, or pick one of three other audio options: a feed featuring Andrea Kremer and Hannah Storm, the first female announcing duo in NFL broadcast history; a version with Spanish-language announcers; and a feed from a U.K. team.

Twitch offers the games free worldwide at twitch.tv/primevideo and offers an array of interactive features including custom NFL emoji and alternate commentary from Twitch streamers.

Here are the audience numbers from Amazon for the first seven “Thursday Night Football” games:

* includes both Prime Video and Twitch audience

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