Amazon Prime Video is closing in on its first full year of sports programming, and the 365-day strategy is paying off for brands. Prime now has the NFL, NBA, NASCAR and NWSL, while its deal with the WNBA launches next week (complete with Nielsen measurement for WNBA games for the first time).
“All of this is creating year-round opportunities for brands, and it’s proving incredibly successful,” said Tanner Elton, Prime Video’s VP/U.S. advertising sales, ahead of Upfronts week.
One example of that success, Elton said, was through State Farm, which was advertising on both “TNF” and the NBA with Prime in Q4, and the insurance firm is finding advertising on both is paying off. State Farm saw a 72% conversion rate for customers who watched both the NFL and NBA compared to viewers who watched just one of the sports on Prime, he said.
Since bringing the “TNF” package exclusively to Prime in 2022, Prime has introduced 79 brands that weren’t previous advertisers to the league. In its first season on Prime, the NBA was exposed to 31 brands.
“We feel like it’s still Day 1 at Amazon and there’s so much more that we’re going to be able to do,” Elton said.
A key driver for Prime Video has been its age demographics, Elton said. The median age for “TNF” viewers on Prime is seven years younger than NFL fans on linear. The NBA? Nine years younger. Even NASCAR watchers on Prime are on average five years younger than on linear.
“When you think about that shift in wanting to continue to be relevant, all of that, inclusive of engagement, is why Prime Video is no longer an alternative to linear,” Elton said. “But we’re just competing now at the broadcast level, which is a really exciting place for us to be at.”
Major sports themes to expect at Amazon’s Upfront next Monday include the property’s deal with Duke to air three of its games, as well as “Madden,” the Prime biopic on the late Hall of Fame coach that releases this November just before the platform’s Black Friday NFL game.
“These sports biopics, these massive sports entertainment stories, how we’re going to be able to launch and integrate brands around them with actual sports happening in that moment,” Elton said. “Those synergies are going to be pretty special from a sponsorship and a creative opportunity.”
