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As
part of the deal, Amazon will stream 10 Thursday-night games
online for Prime members exclusively. The same games will be
broadcast by networks CBS and NBC on television.
Amazon beat out Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc and Google's YouTube
for the digital distribution rights, according to a person
familiar with the matter. The Seattle-based company agreed to
pay the NFL five times what Twitter spent on the rights last
year, which was reported to be $10 million, the person said.
Amazon declined to comment on the deal's price tag.
The deal underscores a key strategy Amazon has to win a greater
share of shoppers' wallets: offer benefits like fast shipping
and video-streaming so people sign up for Prime and,
consequently, turn to Amazon for more of their purchases.
While the Seattle-based company has streamed live events in the
past, the NFL may be its biggest stage yet, and reflects
Amazon's push beyond its mainstay of on-demand video.
Sports fans are increasingly relying on the internet to watch
content at the expense of traditional cable and satellite
connections. Twitter attracted 243,000 viewers on average during
its NFL livestream debut last year.
"The NFL was a great partner to launch our strategy and we will
continue to work with them to bring great content to our
passionate sports fans," the social media company said in a
statement.
News of the deal with Amazon was earlier reported by technology
news site Recode.
(Additional Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru and
David Ingram in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and
Stephen Coates)
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