The New York Times reports that this week, Amazon Prime Video “becomes the first streamer to serve the patrons of the Masters, joining mainstays CBS and ESPN.” A major deal, the Times suggests, that signifies the degree to which Amazon is delivering on its ambitions.
“It was eight years ago that Amazon Prime Video completed its first live rights deal in sports,” the Times writes. “Now, it showcases the NFL, the NBA and, launching this week, the Masters.
“And Prime Video may just be getting started … Prime Video has acquired the most robust package of games among the new digital sports streamers, a category that includes Netflix, YouTube and Apple TV.
“Amazon executives famously think long-term, and in sports, that includes one day having a Super Bowl.”
Jay Marine, Amazon’s head of Prime Video U.S., global sports & advertising, tells the Times that he believes “it will happen in ‘the fullness of time,’ a very Amazon saying, as it is well thought-out and really could mean anything — kind of a distant cousin to ‘free shipping’ after you pay a membership fee.
“Whatever phrasing is used, if you are paying attention to what Amazon has been up to the last few decades, ‘the fullness of time’ could very well mean that the Super Bowl — by far the most-watched programming annually with 120 million-plus viewers — appears on Prime Video within the next decade.
“Amazon aims to have the best membership service in the world, and live sports have become a big part of it. For $139 per year, the (ware)house that Jeff Bezos built wants it to be a no-brainer for everyone with its ‘free shipping’ — and its video service. In the complicated and still blossoming reimagination of how we watch our games, among the streamers joining ESPN, Fox, NBC, CBS and TNT Sports, Prime Video is most visibly sharing the leaderboard with the traditional broadcast champions.”
KC’s View:
No question about it, in my view. I’ve been predicting for years that major sports events – the Super Bowl, US Opens (golf and tennis), NBA championships, the Final Four and the World Series – all could end up on one streamer or another.
Proof of concept: in a couple of years, the Academy Awards will be on YouTube, moving over from ABC, where it has been for decades.
The streamers have the resources, and increasingly the viewership, especially among young people. Not sure it is a good thing, but it is an inevitable thing.
This programming is a version of private label – and with time, it will become even more proprietary and defining. Which is exactly how retailers and their private label providers should think about their own-label entries.
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