Amazon Prime Video will stream an NFL playoff game next season, according to multiple reports.
It will be the second year in a row that a major NFL game will be broadcast exclusively on a streaming platform. The Jan. 13 AFC wild card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins aired on Peacock.
NBCUniversal paid $110 million for the rights to the game, according to multiple reports, and Amazon is expected to pay more.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that Amazon will stream a playoff game next season.
Under the NFL's contract, each of its four broadcast partners (NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN/ABC) gets at least one wild-card game. Of the two remaining games, one rotates each year between NBC, CBS and Fox, while the other is up for bid.
This season's 16-game package on Prime Video averaged 11.86 million viewers, according to Nielsen, a 24% increase from the inaugural 2022 season. Twelve games averaged more than 10 million, doubling 2022 and triggering some clauses of performance that allow him to lead a playoff game.
Despite the bad blood among fans, the game on Peacock was the most-watched event on a streaming service. The Chiefs' 26-7 victory averaged 23 million viewers on Peacock, NFL+ and NBC affiliates in Kansas City and Miami, and had a total reach of 27.6 million, according to Nielsen.
By comparison, the Saturday night game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars on January 14, 2023 averaged 20.61 million viewers.
Comcast reported late last year that Peacock had 31 million subscribers. There were 2.8 million new subscribers to the streaming service during the wild-card game weekend, according to subscription analytics firm Antenna.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
