Amazon’s media deal with the NFL is already paying off.

Prime Video broadcast its first “Thursday Night Football” game last week as part of an exclusive 11-year deal worth an annual $1 billion.

The game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs outduel the Los Angeles Chargers, fetched a record number of Prime subscriptions, according to a staff note from Jay Marine, Amazon’s vice president in charge of Prime Video.

• The game brought in more Prime sign-ups over a three-hour period than any other day — including Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and Prime Day.
• Prime costs $139 annually.

Marine also said the game drew a record primetime audience for the service in the U.S.

Amazon was targeting 12.5 million viewers per game. “Thursday Night Football” averaged 13.2 million viewers in its last season on Fox.

“While we’re still waiting for official Nielsen ratings, our measurement shows that the audience numbers exceeded all of our expectations for viewership,” Marine said. 

Amazon has a three-year deal with Nielsen, which marks the first time Nielsen will include ratings from a streaming service in its weekly television-viewing report.

“By every measure, ‘Thursday Night Football’ on Prime Video was a resounding success,” Marine added.

Prime’s Production Plans

“TNF” executive producer Fred Gaudelli has grand designs for Amazon’s NFL deal.

“I want to be better than ‘Sunday Night Football,’” Gaudelli said. “We have Al [Michaels], we have Kirk [Herbstreit]. There isn’t any real reason that our broadcast shouldn’t be as good as anyone else’s, and hopefully better.”

One of Europe’s most successful soccer clubs is out of the red.

FC Barcelona reported a profit of $98.27 million for the 2021-22 financial year — and projects a profit of $274 million for this season, a 180% increase year-over-year. 

The iconic Spanish club — the second-most valuable soccer team in the world at $5 billion, per Forbes — posted the favorable results after reporting a $1.5 billion debt last year. 

• The La Liga club closed the 2021-22 financial year with a turnover of $1 billion.
• The club projects to generate $1.3 billion in revenue for the 2022-23 season.
• Its board of directors approved an operating income budget of $1.25 billion for 2022-23. 

Barcelona has used several “economic levers” to alleviate debt and drive profits. 

In June, the club secured a deal with private equity firm Sixth Street to sell a 10% stake in its TV rights worth up to $278 million. Barcelona doubled down in July after selling an additional 15% of its TV rights to Sixth Street for $326.5 million. 

In August, Barcelona agreed to a deal with fan engagement company Socios.com to sell a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios — the club’s media production arm — for $102 million. 

That same month, the club sold an additional 24.5% stake in Barca Studios to audiovisual production company Orpheus Media after a deal with investment fund GDA Luma dissolved. 

More to Spend

La Liga recently raised Barcelona’s spending limit by $803 million, up from a cap of $96 million in 2021. For the 2022-23 season, it will have a $655 million spending cap.

Power 5 conferences and pro leagues are usually chased by TV networks and streamers — not the other way around. 

But with its back against the wall after losing USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 is hotly pursuing Amazon as a potential media rights partner, sources tell Front Office Sports. The Mercury News first reported a possible union between Pac-12 and Amazon.

“They know they’re in big trouble. The Pac-12 is actively out there trying to see what they can do to survive,” said one source. “They want Amazon. But does Amazon want them?”

Both Amazon and the conference declined to comment when reached by FOS, but at Pac-12 media days this summer, commissioner George Kliavkoff told reporters the conference could likely end up with a digital partner.

• Amazon is proving to sports leagues it can deliver, thanks to the success of its inaugural broadcast of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football,” which drew more subscriptions than any other three-hour period in Amazon’s history.
• The country’s largest online retailer could also generate more revenue for the Pac-12 with sales of jerseys, memorabilia, and other school merchandise.

The Pac-12 is also interested in having Apple stream its games. 

Stirring the Pot

The Pac-12 could also be using the streaming giants as a stalking horse to try to squeeze more money out of current rights partner ESPN. The two sides are “hundreds of millions apart” in negotiations for a new broadcast deal, according to the New York Post.

ESPN declined to comment on the negotiations.