Amazon’s Prime Video Unwraps Its NBA Sponsorship Playbook

Amazon’s advertising unit on Wednesday introduced its roster of presenting sponsors for the opening season of Prime Video’s NBA coverage, a clutch of top-tier sports spenders that includes the likes of AT&T, Mercedes-Benz and State Farm.

As part of a series of signings that will help defray Amazon’s annual $1.8 billion rights payment to the NBA, the online retailer/streamer has landed AT&T as the title sponsor of its new halftime show (The Half). The telco, which for years has functioned in a similar capacity for CBS and TNT Sports’ annual coverage of March Madness, will also serve as the tech partner for Prime Video’s LED court and Amazon Studios’ production hub in Culver City, Calif.

AT&T is one of the biggest sports advertisers on the TV dial, with total U.S. ad spend reaching $2.46 billion in 2023. The company is also an official NBA sponsor, signing on with the league (and the WNBA) in 2019 as part of a multiyear deal worth some $30 million per season.

Joining AT&T for Amazon’s first shootaround with the NBA is the quick-service restaurant Wingstop, which is entering its second season as the league’s official chicken partner. (With more than 50 certified marketing tie-ups locked in for 2025-26, the NBA has carve-outs for every conceivable sub-category from “official salty snacks” to “official dress shirts.”) As Wingstop expands its sports-first marketing strategy, an initiative that includes heavy in-game spending on the NFL and NBA, the brand will serve as the presenting sponsor of Prime’s Thursday and Friday games.

Wingstop will be all but inescapable this season, as it is also sponsoring the Monday night installments of NBC’s new studio show, NBA Showtime.

Mercedes-Benz is sponsoring Prime’s Saturday NBA telecasts. The luxury automaker invested $614 million in U.S. advertising in 2023.

Also in the mix is CarMax, which will serve as the title sponsor of the self-explanatory NBA on Prime Pregame, while Wayfair will provide the matching bookend at the end of the night with its NBA Nightcap deal. On days when Prime has a scheduled doubleheader in the hopper, Universal Orlando Resort will prop up a new segue program titled The Crossover.

Looking further down the road, the insurance juggernaut State Farm will be sponsoring Prime’s coverage of the second round of the NBA playoffs once May rolls around. State Farm is also backing the Tuesday night edition of NBC’s NBA Showtime.

Since Amazon first rolled out 30-second spots on Prime Video in January 2024, the streaming platform has slowly begun siphoning ad revenue from the linear TV market. In its first year as an ad-supported service, Prime generated some $433 million in ad dollars, and is projected to double that this year.

Now in its fourth season as the exclusive home of , Prime is taking in some $575,000 per unit in its live NFL coverage. Through the first four games, TNF on Prime is averaging 15.7 million viewers, up 11% versus the year-ago mark (14.2 million). And that audience is significantly younger than those who watch via the tube, as the games are drawing an audience with a median age of 47.5 years, or nearly eight years junior to the NFL’s TV crowd (55.3). That ability to attract a more demographically viable fan base is a big part of why the NBA is eager to tip off its new streaming deal.

Per the terms of Amazon’s NBA contract Prime will stream 67 regular-season games, beginning with a Celtics-Knicks/Lakers-Timberwolves doubleheader on Friday, Oct. 24. The platform will also host the NBA Cup in-game tourney, which gets rolling on Halloween, as well as the year-end play-in tournament and select first- and second-round playoff dates.

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