NOTE: This musing also appears today on our sister site, Leblanguage. Please visit it regularly for coverage of media, politics, sports and life.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, especially those of you who indeed have a yours to be with. Here in this alternative universe, our holiday will yet again be limited to a quickie lunch with strangers who hopefully won’t require police intervention as they have in the past. On the other hand, that was always a possibility with the family I did once belong to, and at least with strangers the possibility of recidivism diminishes greatly.
Besides, my current employer considers Black Friday as their de facto Super Bowl, and as a result fair warning that tomorrow’s edition of Leblanguage might be delayed. I plan on arriving way before sunup in the hopes of cajoling doorbusters with a 91% discount on our signature service, which it should be noted is an even deeper discount than some of the handful of big screen TVs that only the absolute earliest arrivals are getting elsewhere–and, frankly, right up there with our poinsettias. To say we’re under some pressure to deliver is an understatement.
Then again, for once, I’d rather be here than at Prime Video, because their Black Friday is about to be their most crucial ever . I know that because there hasn’t been a commercial break this week on my favorite podcast platform that hasn’t included a call to action for their offerings, an array that FRONT OFFICE SPORTS’ Eric Fisher devoted the primo position of yesterday afternoon’s newsletter to detail:
Amazon is readying a whopping 15 hours of live sports for Black Friday on its Prime Video streaming service—massively expanding from initial notion in 2023 to air a live NFL game on the unofficial post-Thanksgiving holiday. This year’s morning-to-night lineup includes:
- The revival of golf’s “Skins Game”: The made-for-TV showcase, appearing for the first time since 2008, will bring together Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, and Keegan Bradley in a $4 million competition.
- A better-than-expected NFL game between the Bears and Eagles: Amazon always had high hopes for the contest when it was announced in May, given it involves two of the top five U.S. media markets and the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles. Since then, though, the Bears have risen to the top of the NFC North division, giving the game plenty of extra sizzle and postseason implications. The NFL and Amazon also recently finalized plans to show this game globally for free. The 3 p.m. ET start will again take advantage of a loophole in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
- An NBA Cup doubleheader: The first of the two basketball games will involve the Bucks and Knicks, while the nightcap will be another showcase with the Mavericks and Lakers. That latter game will be the first between the two since Dallas fired GM Nico Harrison earlier this month, with his much-criticized February trade of star Luka Dončić to Los Angeles helping set the stage for that move.
“What started as just an idea with the NFL has blown up into something much bigger, and it’s been really cool to see that build year after year,” Amazon VP of global live sports production Jared Stacy tells Front Office Sports. “In a lot of ways, what we’re doing on Black Friday is a full activation of the entire company,” Stacy says.
And considering the kind of year the rest of the company is about to give thanks for finally heading to a merciful end–at least those still around to do so–the pressure to deliver results on Stacy’s part is far greater than anything I might ensure. Suffice to say it’s been quite the busy revolving door.
You might recall waaay back around Passover that the executive exodus began with Amazon MGM Studios czarina Jen Salke’s departure. At the time, we paid particular attention to why that was both imminent and deserved–we had indeed mused about a lot of that during the latter days of her expanded oversight, too. A few months later, the intrepid Nellie Andreeva at DEADLINE reported on a surprising shakeup of responsibilities for those that were trying to clean up her mess:
Mike Hopkins, Head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, is changing the responsibilities of two of his senior executives: VP and global head of sports and advertising Jay Marine and VP Prime Video U.S. Albert Cheng. Hopkins unveiled the restructuring in a company memo, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline.
Marine and Cheng’s roles have been consolidated into one with Marine elevated, taking over Cheng’s responsibilities overseeing the U.S. Prime Video business. That includes PV subscriptions as the platform has been focused on becoming the ultimate bundle by adding carriage of other networks and streamers. Marine will also continue to lead the company’s global sports and ads operations. “Albert will take on a new role “leading our investments in creating new tools for our creative partners that harness the power of AI,” Hopkins said in the memo. “Alongside our Studios tech team, Albert will lead content creation and focus on empowering the very best filmmakers and showrunners to do their most innovative work in AI and – in doing so – create even more high-quality content for customers.”
Considering how close Hopkins and Cheng have been ever since their days as fellow FOX cable executives on the rise that I was proud to consistently be called upon to help execute their ttench warfare projects, although such a move taps into the core skill set that Cheng exhibited during his later run at Disney when he spearheaded the acceleration of original IPod content it’s a bit of a comedown–though a far softer landing than the kind that have followed this fall. Head of Global TV Vernon Sanders “chose to move on” a few weeks later, not all that surprising considering his deep ties to Salke and the fact that he hadn’t exactly delivered the kind of buzzworthy or hours-eating results that Hopkins and his superiors have demanded. At the time, we were in hindsight more than a bit harsh on Sanders, so let the record show we acknowledge that and certainly hope he’s enjoying a far less stressful holiday than Marine, to whom Stacy reports into.
Sanders was quickly replaced by Netflix’s Peter Friedlander, which Andreeva yet again promptly provided an “exclusive” on, and it’s clear coming up on his two-month anniversary he’s still trying to assess exactly what other housecleaning is needed at this Amazon warehouse. One such move just went down earlier this week, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Tony Maglio:
Barry Poznick is exiting his gig as Amazon MGM Studios’ head of unscripted programming. He is not abandoning his shows, however: Poznick will continue executive producing all of MGM’s reality franchises, including The Voice, Shark Tank, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Real Housewives of Rhode Island, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vanderpump Rules and American Gladiators, under a new three-year deal.
Do note that the majority of those efforts are not for Prime Video and even GLADITORS is not as OG an idea as one of the few shows that the platform has introduced that even qualified for the Nielsen Top Ten charts at any point, the zeitgeisty but uber-expensive MR. BEAST–nor was it developed under Poznick’s purview. A cushy landing akin to Cheng’s, but all the more evidence that the need for tomorrow to be an outsized success has been turned up a few more degrees. And that’s a point that Fisher made sure to reinforce:
Like the past two years, Amazon will heavily integrate the online retail part of its business into the sports broadcasts, particularly through a “Shop the Game” feature that will allow viewers to access Black Friday sales through their TV remote…(T)he company is certainly aiming for a greater pull throughout the day from sports fans. Second, the NFL is in the midst of a leaguewide boost in viewership, with the 6% lift to 17.7 million viewers per game representing its best mark at this point of the season since 2015. Amazon is squarely part of that with Thursday Night Football, posting a 12% rise so far this season to 14.78 million viewers per game. Third, the NBA is also off to a strong ratings start to its season, with Amazon a core part of that, too. Lastly, Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process has provided a meaningful lift to most live sports, and Amazon was an early adopter of the enhanced methodology. The Black Friday lineup will be shown without a Prime Video subscription needed. “The opportunity to extend the day like this is a huge thing, and we’re looking forward to creating a new set of traditions,” Stacy says.
Indeed, for as desirable as wins might be for fans of the games’ participants, the biggest victory would be for Prime Video would seem to be to distract folks from wanting to schlep out to places of business like mine and battle fellow Tums-guzzling and sleep-deprived shoppers at all. And even if the games themselves prove to be too engrossing or said viewers are in still too much of a post-feast haze to navigate and telescope their way in and out tomorrow, the fact that they’ll now need to make up for their laziness on Cyber Monday will ultimately benefit Amazon as well. And since Friedlander has yet to unveil a game plan for Netflix-level series nor a revised list of longterm lieutenants to help him deliver upon it, it squarely puts a spotlight on this Marine not seen since the days of Gomer Pyle.
Shazam indeed, you turkeys. And good luck.
Until next time…