NFL's first Black Friday game averages 9.61 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL and Amazon Prime Video's first attempt at a Black Friday game ended up being the most-watched game of the day, even though the audience came in lower than what some had estimated.

The Miami Dolphins' 34-13 victory over the New York Jets averaged 9.61 million viewers according to Nielsen. Viewership peaked at 11.18 million from 5-5:15 p.m. EST.

It was Amazon's second-least viewed game of the season, behind the 9.56 million that tuned in for the Chicago Bears' win over the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 9.

The next-highest viewed game last Friday was the Big Ten matchup between Iowa and Nebraska (4.39 million), which started at 12 p.m. EST on CBS.

Amazon Prime Video came into Black Friday averaging 12.27 million viewers on “Thursday Night Football”. With the heavy promotion for the game and it being available for free for everyone, there were some predictions of at least 12.5 million.

“Prime Video’s first Black Friday football game welcomed meaningful successes across Amazon’s many touchpoints with fans and customers,” said Jay Marine, VP and Global Head of Sports for Prime Video, in a statement.

“We’re beyond proud of this new tentpole event we’ve created with the NFL, and how so many parts of Amazon worked to create a fun and innovative production that surrounded football, family, shopping, food and music. We look forward to building this Black Friday game into one of America’s great annual sports traditions.”

The NFL's three games on Thanksgiving Day set a viewership record for the second straight year, averaging 34.1 million viewers on TV and digital platforms.

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