How Amazon turned its Thursday Night Football into a two-pronged pitch to capture ad dollars
Digiday ·
TNF’s the jewel in Amazon’s Prime Video sports portfolio, and a lever for endemic and non-endemic media budgets.
As the NFL season and holiday shopping season both kick off, U.S. advertisers are devoting more budget to Amazon’s ad inventory.
For the e-commerce giant, Thursday Night Football coverage has proven a particularly useful tool to expand its advertising and streaming business . The company has successfully used the TNF audience to convert brands that don’t sell products on its e-commerce site, like American Express , amid fierce competition among DSP providers . But it’s also positioned its live sports portfolio as an upsell option for brands that do shift product on its retail platform, but which don’t typically bother with sports advertising, like Colgate.
Parent Colgate-Palmolive spent $1.51 billion on advertising in the first six months of 2026 alone, according to SEC filings . But the toothpaste maker hasn’t run a Super Bowl ad in seven years, and its sports marketing activity largely centers on a Madison Square Garden sponsorship for Big East March Madness. And yet, it’s all in on football on Amazon.
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