Amazon sets $2.8M for NFL game ad package

Amazon is looking to charge advertisers $2.8 million for packages that include 30-second spots during the Thursday night National Football League games it will stream live to its Prime customers this coming season.

The offering will be closely watched by the advertising and broadcasting industries as the world’s largest online retailer makes its first high-profile push into live sports.

Amazon is paying $50 million to the NFL to stream this season’s 10 Thursday-night games. The games will be shown simultaneously on either CBS or NBC, which are broadcasting five games each.

Amazon takes over from Twitter, which paid $10 million to stream Thursday-night games last season.

The live-streamed games will only be available to subscribers to Amazon’s $99-per-year Prime service.

Streaming NFL games is also a source of revenue in its own right, although it is unclear if ad sales will offset the cost.

“We are offering a range of options at various price points, depending on advertiser objectives,” Amazon’s Kristin Mariani said, declining to discuss specific ad prices.

For each game, Amazon can sell 10 30-second spots, a source said.

The spots run on the live stream while local ads air on network TV. Under the terms Amazon is offering, buyers also get to run ads on Amazon.com throughout the football season. National spots run by network broadcasters will also be shown on the live stream.

Its pricing appears to be lower than that of Twitter, which charged advertisers $2 million to $8 million for packages of ads that included the games as well as spots on NFL highlights, according to media reports.

Amazon’s ad package prices are higher than the $550,000 to $590,000 that NBC and CBS typically charge for their on-air national ads, according to industry sources.