Touchdown For Shopping: Amazon's Innovative Black Friday Football Game Integrates Commerce And Content

Amazon.Com, Inc AMZN is introducing a new Black Friday tradition by streaming its first-ever Black Friday football game on Prime Video, targeting the nearly $10 billion expected to be spent online by U.S. shoppers. This initiative marks a shift from traditional early morning "doorbuster" deals to a more digital, viewer-friendly approach.

Also Read: Beyond the Game: How Amazon's AI is Transforming the NFL Viewing Experience

The game, featuring the Jets and the Miami Dolphins, will start at 3 p.m. in New York with 90 minutes of pre-game coverage, Bloomberg reports. This event is not just about sports; it showcases new commercials from significant brands like Hasbro, Inc HAS. Viewers using Amazon Fire TV devices can directly shop from their screens, adding items to their Amazon cart, exemplifying Amazon's strategy to blend content with commerce.

This "content-to-commerce" approach is part of Amazon's broader plan to leverage Prime Video to boost its advertising and online retail segments. Live sports, particularly football, with frequent commercial breaks, are ideal for this model. 

The NFL, a strong performer on linear TV, has seen Amazon's Thursday Night Football attract nearly 13 million viewers per game this year, a 25% increase from last year, as per the report.

Amazon's U.S. advertising business has reportedly grown to a $34 billion-a-year entity, challenging digital ad leaders like Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google and Meta Platforms Inc META. This growth is mainly due to Amazon's ability to provide advertisers with detailed data on ad clicks and subsequent purchases, a capability enhanced since Apple Inc's AAPL privacy updates.

The Black Friday game is a significant step for Amazon in expanding beyond its online store, aiming to capture not just impulse buyers but more considerable brand advertising opportunities, tapping into the $70 billion TV advertising market as audiences increasingly move from cable to streaming, according to the report.

Price Action: AMZN shares traded higher by 0.18% at $146.97 premarket on the last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
We may earn a commission on links in this article. 

Photo Via Amazon