This season, a play-call sheet can help you in keeping note of where you can watch (National Football League) NFL Game on TV.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who won the Super Bowl last year, play the Detroit Lions on Thursday night to start the NFL season on NBC and its Peacock app.
One or two networks used to carry NFL games. The league will broadcast an all- time number of games on tv and cable and offer more direct streaming games than ever before.
This year, NBC, Fox, CBS, ESPN/ABC, their streaming apps, and Amazon Prime Video will broadcast the games. Some games will also be streamed via the NFL’s own streaming app and YouTube TV
Make the switch to streaming
Here’s why there are a lot of different stations and online platforms to watch the NFL, many of which many fans may not even be aware of.
It’s all occurring now because the NFL is television’s premium product, especially when the media and technology industries struggle and more consumers than ever cancel their pay-TV subscriptions. The NFL has signed nearly $100 billion in television deals, including streaming rights, for 11 years starting in 2021.
The governing bodies of CBS, ESPN, ABC, and NBC are investing billions in streaming services due to the fact that they see it as their future. These companies are Paramount, Disney, and Comcast. More NFL games, including exclusive games, are making their debuts on streaming services in an effort to lure new subscribers.
According to media analysts at MoffettNathanson, the NFL is the “glue” that holds the pay-TV bundle together, and the drop in standard broadcast and cable television viewing is accelerating.
Streamers allowed consumers to view three of the five NFL game packages for the first time last season.
This season shall include a few firsts, like the NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube, a streaming-only playoff game on Peacock, and an Amazon Prime Video Black Friday game.
For the second time this year, ESPN+ will air a global NFL game solely on its platform, while Amazon will once again have exclusive rights to Thursday night games this season. Thursday Night Football on Amazon was the first NFL package to be solely streamed.
Why does the NFL matter?
Even as sports-free TV viewing declines, advertisers will pay for football, one of the only games millions watch live.
MoffettNathanson found that over half of Fox’s viewers and roughly one-third of CBS and NBC saw NFL games last season.
According to industry experts, “during the fall TV season, the NFL is the biggest driver of network ratings and advertising dollars.” “When compared to all other forms of linear content, the NFL remains an outlier.”
As a result, NBC and Peacock will both carry “Sunday Night Football” during primetime. Fox will air NFC games on its broadcast network. BS will broadcast AFC games on its network and on Paramount+. (CBS, which owns the Super Bowl rights in February, will also broadcast the game on Nickelodeon.) ESPN will broadcast “Monday Night Football” games on both ESPN and ESPN+. And Amazon has the rights to Thursday night games, which are shown on Amazon Prime Video.
The NFL is betting on streaming as well.
For nearly 30 years with satellite provider DirecTV, the NFL Sunday Ticket membership, which streams all out-of-market NFL games to fans, is switching to YouTube TV, owned by Google, this year.
Last year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “We’ve been focused on increasing digital distribution of our games, and this partnership is yet another instance of us looking forward.”
