In picking Packers-Bears for Prime Video, the NFL knew exactly what it was doing.
The best matchup of the wild-card round became the most exciting of the six games, too. That propelled the contest to an all-time streaming record, with 31.61 million viewers.
The number represents a 43-percent bump over last year’s Prime Video playoff game between the Steelers and the Ravens, which averaged 22.07 million viewers. It also broke the streaming record set by the Netflix Lions-Vikings game on Christmas Day, with 27.52 million.
The streaming high-water mark comes at a perfect time for the NFL. Amazon, as we understand it, will have to re-bid on the game next year. And the massive number for the latest game makes the property even more valuable going forward.
Which would explain the NFL’s decision to handpick the best game of the wild-card slate for a streaming-only broadcast.
And, yes, people still huff and puff about streaming only games. As long as the numbers blow the house down, the pivot to streaming will become more and more permanent.
