Amazon has turned Thursday Night Football into a two-sided ad pitch, and media buyers say it is working. The stream now funnels non-endemic brands like American Express into Amazon’s DSP while giving endemic advertisers such as Colgate a full-funnel reason to add live sports to their plans.
Two paths into the same stream
For brands that do not sell on Amazon, TNF acts as a gateway. Tinuiti’s Joe O’Connor said advertisers often use Amazon sports properties to test the platform before increasing DSP budgets elsewhere. For brands that do sell on Amazon but rarely buy sports, Prime is an upsell: sales data can be tied to ad exposure, retargeting can move viewers down the funnel, and no traditional TV upfront negotiation is required.
The pitch has landed with both camps. Prime Video has a 6% increase in TNF advertisers this season. Since 2022, live sports have brought Amazon 80 brands new to TNF, 33 new to its NBA coverage, and 54 brands new to Amazon overall, according to Amazon’s head of US live sports sales Billy Davis.
Colgate shows the full-funnel math
Colgate-Palmolive spent $1.51 billion on advertising in the first half of 2026, but the toothpaste maker has not run a Super Bowl ad in seven years. It is now all in on football on Amazon.
After a 2025 campaign featuring Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson, a Lucid study found purchase rates rose eight times, branded searches doubled, aided brand awareness rose 3%, and aided ad awareness increased 5%. This season, Colgate Total is running a Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown campaign across Brand Store, Fire TV home screen slots and Prime Video, including TNF.
“It allows us to reach consumers through their entire journey,” said Kim McCormack, senior manager, integrated marketing for Colgate Total.
Why the audience is now easier to sell
Early streaming concerns have faded. The Oct. 1 Steelers-Browns game was Prime Video’s most-watched week four TNF game ever, with a 19% larger audience than the 2025 week four matchup, according to Nielsen Big Panel data.
- Non-endemics get a gateway into Amazon DSP and a test budget.
- Endemics get sales-linked exposure and retargeting without upfront commitments.
- Buyers get national sports reach plus access to cord-cutting Prime subscribers.
Where the pitch isn’t a fit
The model favors brands with national distribution and simple, repeat purchases. Horizon Media’s Adam Schwartz warns there can be waste if a brand only sells in certain regions or needs a longer consideration cycle. “It certainly works for a lot of brands, but it’s not going to work for every brand,” he said.
Still, Amazon is pushing full-funnel, multi-sport buys. Amy McDevitt, head of sports brand partnership at Amazon Ads, argues campaigns become more impactful when advertisers add upper- and lower-funnel inventory. For many brands, TNF is now the test-and-expand entry point into that broader Amazon media machine.
Source: Digiday
