At Monday’s Upfront, Amazon introduced its 11-year, $19.8 billion NBA media rights deal, representing its biggest ever investment.
Amazon‘s Upfront on Monday brought out stars like Michael B. Jordan, Jason Momoa, Walton Goggins, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger to tout upcoming projects as Prime Video hyped shoppable TV to the advertising industry. However, one segment that won’t be grabbing headlines, like performances from Lizzo and Steve Aoki, represents the biggest product investment Amazon has ever made.
Early on in the show at the Beacon Theater, the Thursday Night Football trio of Charissa Thompson, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Andrew Whitworth introduced four members of Amazon’s new NBA studio show: Taylor Rooks, Blake Griffin, Candace Parker, and Udonis Haslem. This fall, Prime Video begins the first season of its 11-year NBA media rights deal worth a reported $1.8 billion annually.
As Rooks laid out during the presentation, Amazon will stream 65 regular-season games per year beginning Oct. 24, including weekly Friday games, Thursday doubleheaders after the NFL’s TNF run concludes, exclusive coverage of the NBA Cup knockout rounds, the postseason play-in tournament, and playoff matchups. That $19.8 billion total price tag is larger than any investment the company’s ever made, eclipsing the $13.7 billion it paid for Whole Foods in 2017, the $11 billion it doled out to the NFL in 2021, and the $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM that same year. Adding to its coverage of the NFL, WNBA, NASCAR, and NWSL, the NBA represents 7-8 months of weekly content per year for over a decade, representing one of Prime Video’s main television fixtures well into the 2030s.
Courtesy of Amazon
After introducing ads to its platform to begin 2024, Prime Video said Monday that it now boasts an ad-supported monthly audience of more than 130 million in the U.S., which increases to over 300 million across owned and operated supply. This gigantic audience that extends around the world is the biggest reason why the NBA not only split its next rights package into three parts instead of two, but also risked costly litigation with Warner Bros. Discovery to phase out TNT after a four-decade partnership that globalized and revolutionized the sport. The league no longer wanted to be confined by the declining linear cable model, leaning on ABC and NBC to go with streaming services like Prime Video, Peacock, and ESPN‘s upcoming direct-to-consumer model that will de-emphasize linear.
While Amazon didn’t break out a Michael Jordan-type surprise like NBC did, the company sees the NBA as a needle mover to attract and retain new subscribers. Over the coming months, Prime Video will have to introduce more basketball shoulder content beyond the upcoming Allen Iverson documentary and Wondery podcasts like LeBron James and Steve****Nash‘s Mind The Game, so that it can be known as a destination for year-round basketball content and not just a place you only come to for games. But while you’re there for the league’s biggest matchups, expect lengthy, comprehensive postgame coverage and discussion on Prime Video because it’s not constrained by having to pivot to late local news after matchups are over. The extended postgame coverage is one small reason Inside the NBA became so successful.
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Even though Prime Video hasn’t introduced its entire NBA team and it wasn’t as publicized as upcoming blockbuster shows or movies, the sheer size of the media rights contract underscores Amazon’s massive commitment to basketball over the coming decade. Rooks and Thompson highlighted the upcoming Black Friday triple header of NFL and NBA games, where millions of streamers will be able to start their holiday shopping while watching their favorite teams. That’s the real key to the biggest bet Amazon ever made: Attracting new Prime subscribers, keeping existing subscribers engaged and entertained, consuming ads, and staying on Amazon-owned and -operated platforms.
The future is quickly approaching for both the NBA and Amazon. And while there wasn’t an MJ appearance or a kiss between Schwarzenegger and Curtis 30 years after they starred together in True Lies, the company’s $19.8 billion commitment to men’s pro basketball represents the most important product Prime Video introduced. We’ll soon see how Amazon treats its biggest ever bet.
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Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.