Amazon is expanding the features for the NFL Thursday Night Football streaming schedule during the 2020 season, by introducing new features and “shoulder programming” for the games available on both Prime Video and on their video game streaming platform Twitch, according to Variety.
The global streaming coverage officially kicks off this week when the Chicago Bears take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday at 8:20 pm EST. and Twitch will make it available to stream for free.
“We believe we are in the middle of a big change in sports viewing,” Marie Donoghue, VP of global sports video at Amazon, said. “Consumption is switching to mobile and OTT [over-the-top streaming].” She added, “My job is pretty easy: I just have to find out how to use sports to make Prime membership more valuable for our customers.”
Here is a summary of what’s on tap for the 2020 streaming season of “Thursday Night Football”:
- Multiple announcer feeds: For the third season running, Prime Video customers will be able to pick the commentary and play-by-play of veteran sports journalists Hannah Storm (above left) and Andrea Kremer (above right) for the “TNF” games. They’ll be calling the games from a studio in Stamford, Conn. Prime Video users can also again listen to the default Fox broadcast featuring Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. New this year: Prime members can tune in to a “Scout’s Feed,” which features podcasters and former NFL scouts Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah alongside sports podcast, radio, and TV host Joy Taylor. In addition, Prime members in the U.S. and Mexico will once again have access to the Fox Deportes Spanish-language broadcast.
- In-game on-demand replays on Prime Video: New this year, Prime Video members will be able to launch their own replays, using the X-Ray feature available on all Fire TV, Android, and iOS devices (available on web browsers later this season). The replays will include stats specific to that play, such as time to throw, running speeds and completion probability, as well as trivia and relevant milestones. To access X-Ray during the game, viewers watching on Prime Video can flip their mobile device or click “up” on their Fire TV remote. As before, X-Ray for TNF gives Prime members real-time access to live stats and key insights.
- “NFL Next” moves to Tuesdays: Launched last year as a pre-game show, Amazon’s “NFL Next” returns this year to Prime Video as a live and on-demand show that premieres Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Returning are two-time Super Bowl Champion Chris Long, NFL Network’s Kay Adams, and Next Gen Stats analyst James Koh; joining the crew this year as co-host is former NFL receiver Andrew Hawkins.
- New NFL shows on Twitch: New this season, in collaboration with NFL Films, Prime Video is producing a lineup of original content available exclusively on Twitch, which will air throughout the week leading up to the Thursday games. On Mondays at 2 p.m. ET, Kyle Long and Andrew Hawkins will host “The NFL Comment Box,” an ask-me-anything-style show giving fans the chance to engage with them. On Wednesdays at 6 p.m. ET (following “NFL Next” on Prime Video) fans can join Long and Chad Johnson on “The NFL Machine,” in which they’ll walk through and analyze footage from the NFL Films archive. Twitch will present a simulcast of the “Scout’s Feed” for the Thursday games as well as an “NFL Next Live” gameday broadcast with Andrew Hawkins and Cari Champion (which also will feature appearances from Chris Long and Von Miller). All content will be available at the Twitch Sports channel (twitch.tv/twitchsports).
Additionally, Thursday Night Football will be available on the Prime Video Twitch channel, and channels of a number of twitch streamers who will be providing commentary for the games.
“The goal is to give fans the experience they want,” Donoghue said. “We literally do start with the customer and work our way backward. Our hope and goal is that every customer find their best experience.”
It’s a fantastic streaming experience, one that is bound to make headlines from content creator journalists as some of the top twitch channels feature NFL content, from athlete content creators, with unique commentary and interaction during broadcasts.
The Amazon “Thursday Night Football” streaming lineup (with the exclusive Saturday game still TBA) is as follows:
- Oct. 8: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears
- Oct. 15: Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills
- Oct. 22: New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
- Oct. 29: Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers
- Nov. 5: Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers
- Nov. 12: Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans
- Nov. 19: Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks
- Dec. 3: Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens
- Dec. 10: New England Patriots at Los Angeles Rams
- Dec. 17: Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders
- Dec. 25 (Friday game): Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints
