Products

EMARKETER delivers leading-edge research to clients in a variety of forms, including full-length reports and data visualizations to equip you with actionable takeaways for better business decisions.
PRO+
New data sets, deeper insights, and flexible data visualizations.
Learn More
Reports
In-depth analysis, benchmarks and shorter spotlights on digital trends.
Learn More
Forecasts
Interactive projections with 10k+ metrics on market trends, & consumer behavior.
Learn More
Charts
Proprietary data and over 3,000 third-party sources about the most important topics.
Learn More
Industry KPIs
Industry benchmarks for the most important KPIs in digital marketing, advertising, retail and ecommerce.
Learn More
Briefings
Client-only email newsletters with analysis and takeaways from the daily news.
Learn More
Analyst Access Program
Exclusive time with the thought leaders who craft our research.
Learn More

About EMARKETER

Our goal is to unlock digital opportunities for our clients with the world’s most trusted forecasts, analysis, and benchmarks. Spanning five core coverage areas and dozens of industries, our research on digital transformation is exhaustive.
Our Story
Learn more about our mission and how EMARKETER came to be.
Learn More
Methodology
Rigorous proprietary data vetting strips biases and produces superior insights.
Learn More
Our People
Take a look into our corporate culture and view our open roles.
Join the Team
Contact Us
Speak to a member of our team to learn more about EMARKETER.
Contact Us
Newsroom
See our latest press releases, news articles or download our press kit.
Learn More
Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities
Reach an engaged audience of decision-makers.
Learn More
Events
Browse our upcoming and past events, recent podcasts, and other featured resources.
Learn More
Podcasts
Tune in to EMARKETER's daily, weekly, and monthly podcasts.
Learn More

Amazon’s Thursday Night Football is off to a slow start, but it’s not time for a Hail Mary

The NFL’s ratings for the 2022–2023 season were down 3% from the prior year, and there’s one big reason to blame: Amazon’s Thursday Night Football.

Amazon’s fumble: According to Nielsen, Thursday Night Football averaged 9.58 million viewers, while Amazon’s own estimates are a bit higher at 11.3 million. Either way, these numbers are well below the 16.2 million that watched Thursday night games when they were on Prime Video, Fox, and the NFL Network in 2021.

The drop isn’t a surprise when you consider how fragmented sports rights have become, said our analyst Paul Verna on a recent “Behind the Numbers: The Daily” episode.

“With these sports rights, the leagues are starting to parcel them out among many, many different parties,” he said. “It becomes unwieldy as a consumer trying to figure out where your team is playing and how you’re going to watch it.”

The exclusivity of Amazon’s deal could also be to blame, said Verna. “When Twitter, Amazon, and others started streaming live sports, it was generally in conjunction with existing broadcasters. Nobody was relying on it to carry all the viewership.”

A new playbook: According to our analyst Max Willens, these types of deals are becoming more common.

“I think you’re going to see it in about a year and a half when the NBA has to find a new TV partner,” he said. “They cut the price of their League Pass product in half this year, which, to me, suggests they are trying to build a case [that] they can go direct to the consumer.”

The end zone: It may take time for Thursday Night Football to catch on the way that Amazon and the NFL are hoping, but Amazon has the time and money to wait it out, said Verna.

And the odds are in Amazon’s favor. According to our forecast, the number of US digital live sports viewers will continue to grow through 2026 when it will hit 121.3 million, exceeding one-third (34.0%) of the population.

The bottom line: “The future for sports, and for everything, is going to be streaming. So it’s just a matter of time before we all adjust to that reality,” said Verna.

Listen to the full episode.

This was originally featured in the eMarketer Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.