Marc Patrick Will Lead Amazon’s Bid to Get Attention for ‘Thursday Night Football’

Brian Steinberg
·2 min read

Amazon recently won the rights to show the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.” Now all it has to do is get more people used to the fact that the games will stream exclusively on the company’s Prime Video starting in 2023, rather than airing on Fox, NBC or CBS.

That’s where Marc Patrick comes in.

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Patrick, most recently senior vice president of marketing at Beyond Meat, was named global head of sports marketing for Amazon Prime Video, where he will report to Ukonwa Ojo, chief marketing officer for Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video. Patrick will also work with Marie Donoghue, the company’s vice president of global sports video.

Patrick “will be responsible for developing breakthrough multi-media entertainment campaigns for our live sports offerings and will work closely with the NFL as the marketing lead for ‘Thursday Night Football’ on Prime Video,” said Ojo, in a memo to staffers Thursday. The new executive will also work with Studios on sports documentary series and other sports-themed content.

Under terms of the deal Amazon recently struck with the NFL, the company will become the first digital streaming service to have exclusive rights over a national package of national games. Amazon will get 15 games, up from the 11 it currently streams each season, and can make those events available via Prime Video to Amazon customers with a Prime membership. Amazon intends to create new pre-game, half-time, and post-game shows, and offer interactive features like the ability to call up statistics and highlights with the click of a remote.

“As we all know, live sports are a key driver of growth for Prime Video.” said Ojo. “Marc’s expertise in executing winning sports marketing campaigns on behalf of some of the world’s best-known brands will ensure success in building customer awareness for our premium sports content.”

Before working at Beyond Meat, Patrick logged two decades at Nike, where he was head of brand marketing for golf, tennis, baseball, athletic training, skateboarding and football. Among his achievements there was crafting a long-term relationship between Nike and the NFL, while also making outreach to young football fans. At Beyond Meat, he launched a direct-to-consumer business Beyond Meat, where he launched their direct to consumer business, and devised initiatives to draw new attention to plant-based food products.

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