Amazon announced Monday that an average of 16.82 million viewers tuned into Prime Video for the Falcons’ absolute trouncing of the Packers, a 35-14 beatdown that turned into a “cheesehead slaughterhouse” last Thursday night. That’s a 2 percent bump over last year’s Week 3 Thursday night matchup between the Dolphins and Bills, which on the surface, looks like a win for streaming NFL games. Big numbers, right? Seems like Prime Video is crushing it.
The Big Numbers and the Bigger Question Marks
Let’s get real for a second. The Falcons-Packers game wasn’t exactly a nail-biter unless you bleed dirty bird red. But Amazon is flexing some serious viewership muscle with that 16.82 million average. You see a number like that, and you think, “Wow, Thursday Night Football is a certified hit for Amazon!” They’re clearly attracting eyeballs, and that kind of growth, even if it’s just 2 percent, suggests an upward trend for NFL streaming. It makes you wonder how high these numbers can go if the games are actually good, you know?
The “Tiny Screen” Controversy That Nobody’s Talking About
Here’s where things get wild, and where that big number starts to feel a little… squishy. There’s a huge, unresolved question floating around about how Amazon actually tallies these viewers. John Ourand from Puck’s Varsity newsletter dropped a bomb last Tuesday, quoting an unnamed TV exec who basically told everyone to pump the brakes. “Please stop comparing NFL games on Amazon with NFL games anywhere else,” this exec said. “Pull up the Amazon app on your phone to buy something during a Thursday night game. You’ll see the TNF game playing in a tiny screen, and they’ll count you as a viewer. Comical.”
Comical? That’s a massive accusation! It implies Amazon’s numbers could be inflated by folks just trying to buy a new charging cable, not actually watching the game. Then, Ourand followed up with an unnamed streaming executive on Thursday, who fired back, saying, “Trust me when I tell you, there’s not a shred of truth to [this idea].” So, we’ve got one exec saying it’s happening and another denying it. What gives?
This isn’t just about Amazon; it’s about the future of how we consume and how the league measures its biggest product. If these numbers aren’t what they seem, then what are we really looking at for streaming football? What’s at stake for Prime Video is the credibility of their viewership metrics. Are we really seeing a surge in engaged fans, or just an interesting way of counting folks who happen to have the app open? We need some transparency, not just a “trust me.” We deserve to know how these viewership numbers are actually generated.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
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