This time around enthusiasts can watch NFL games minus the advertisements on NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock. Users can stream the Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Charger game with an ad-free fourth quarter. This is a first for the NFL.
The game will be exclusively available on Peacock, except for the Bills and Chargers’ home broadcast markets where the game will air on local NBC stations. There won’t be ads but the broadcast’s fourth quarter will feature a smaller selection of sponsors in ways that go beyond the typical 30-second spot.
Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, said the power of live sports is more prevalent than ever. “At NBCUniversal, we not only have the scale of our broadcast platform, but we now can reach an entirely new audience through Peacock. With this one-of-a-kind sponsorship environment attached to our first-ever exclusive Peacock NFL game, we are able to connect an untapped set of consumers to our marketers, and we couldn’t be more grateful to our partners at the NFL for trusting us to creatively launch this groundbreaking format.”
Peacock ad-free NFL live games could herald bigger shifts as more live sports leap into streaming. This could be a less taxing way to reach viewers who are accustomed to seeing games constantly broken up by repetitive brand messages.
Deloitte says streaming video providers are spending billions of dollars on live sports rights, from football (soccer) to cricket to baseball to golf, in a bid to attract, retain, and monetize an increasingly fickle audience. There’s been a huge change in the live sports streaming space in the past two years since Amazon inked exclusive rights to “Thursday Night Football” – a watershed moment.
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