The pivot to streaming has happened, as evidenced by the audiences attracted by NFL games televised on cable and streamed by Amazon Prime.
Last week, the overnight numbers for Bengals-Ravens on Thursday night showed an audience of 13.63 million. Last night, the game on ESPN between the Dolphins and Rams racked up only 12.2 million viewers.
The disclosure from ESPN was, not surprisingly, buried in a press release touting the year-to-date MNF audiences. (Question: Why do most P.R. people think everyone else is stupid?) The reality is that the ESPN-only broadcasts are struggling in comparison to Amazon Prime’s Thursday night broadcast, which surely prompted the feather-ruffling decision to move most remaining Monday night games to ABC, too.
The Dolphins-Rams game fell into the small handful that won’t be simulcast. And, lo and behold, Amazon Prime has already caught ESPN. The only question is whether and when Prime games will perform like three-letter broadcast networks.