As it enters its third year as a cornerstone of the NFL’s calendar, Prime Video’s Black Friday game is going global.
On Wednesday, the league announced that the Nov. 28 matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears won’t just be streamed in the United States, but also in more than 240 countries and territories around the world. It will mark the first NFL game to be streamed globally by Amazon, which has been a league media rights partner since 2017.
“We are thrilled to expand our relationship with the NFL and present Black Friday Football to the millions of fans we serve around the world,” Jay Marine, head of Prime Video U.S., global sports, said in a statement. “Black Friday is becoming one of the best sports holidays of the year, and this can’t-miss game between the Super Bowl Champion Eagles and the surging Bears, in one of the most-charged stadium atmospheres in sports, stands at the center of a huge day for all of us at Amazon. We cannot wait to provide fans with best-in-class coverage and a full day of action, holiday deals and surprises.”
Added NFL EVP of media distribution Hans Schroeder: “We are excited to work with our partners at Prime Video to bring this year’s Black Friday Football game to a global audience. Expanding the availability of our games to NFL fans around the world is a key priority for us, and we are thrilled that the Black Friday game will be available through Amazon in over 240 countries and territories around the world.”
According to a release, a Prime membership won’t be required for the international audience to watch the game. The global presentation will feature additional language options for viewers around the world including Spanish, French and Portuguese, as well as several advanced features in select locations such as Rapid Recap, High Definition-HDR video and Next Gen Stats.
News of the Black Friday game receiving global distribution comes just more than a month after YouTube aired the Week 1 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil to a global audience. To that end, it will be worth monitoring how the Black Friday games performs internationally, as many considered YouTube’s rating (16.2 million in the U.S., 1.1 million globally) to be underwhelming.
Airing t 3 p.m. ET Eagles-Bears game will serve as the cornerstone of a Black Friday lineup full of sports on Prime Video. That will also include the PGA Tour’s “The Skins Game” (9 a.m. ET) and an NBA doubleheader featuring the Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Dallas Mavericks (10 p.m. ET).
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.