Amazon Prime Video Lands Global Streaming Rights to ATP Youth Tennis Tournament

 Posted on October 22, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  855 words  |  Enda Jantzen

After grabbing NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” for this season, Amazon has secured its second live-streaming sports-rights deal in a pact with the Association of Tennis Professionals.

Amazon Prime Video is now an official streaming partner of the ATP World Tour, under a deal covering the worldwide distribution of the Next Gen ATP Finals men’s youth tennis tournament through the end of 2018.

Starting with the inaugural event in November 2017, Amazon will have worldwide internet-streaming rights (excluding China) — and the full exclusive rights in the U.S. — to distribute the Next Gen ATP Finals, outside of ATP’s over-the-top channel, Tennis TV.

To be sure, the ATP agreement is smaller both in terms of potential audience and dollars than Amazon’s pickup of the NFL “TNF” package. Amazon is paying the NFL a reported $50 million for the 11-game set, with “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video kicking off Sept. 28 with the Chicago Bears at the Green Bay Packers. The games will be available in 200-plus countries to Amazon Prime (and Prime Video standalone) customers.

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For now, Amazon execs are mum on whether they’ll be pursuing additional sports streaming deals. The ecommerce giant has been rumored to be interested in bidding for Premier League soccer rights for the 2019-20 season.

The new Next Gen ATP Finals event takes place Nov. 7-11 in Milan, Italy, showcasing up-and-coming men’s tennis players 21 and under. It’s being held in partnership with the Italian Tennis Federation and the Italian National Olympic Committee.

Under the deal, Amazon has committed to show all Next Gen ATP Finals matches produced by ATP Media.

In addition, ATP has produced three documentaries that will be distributed on Amazon Prime Video. The documentaries take fans behind the scenes, tracking many of the Next Gen ATP players as they fight to make the cut for the November event. In addition, the documentary also will feature interviews with some of today’s top players.

“We know live sports attracts a passionate fan base, many of whom are Prime members,” Greg Hart, VP of Amazon Video, said in a statement. “We are thrilled ATP has awarded distribution rights to Amazon, showing their commitment to streaming live sports.”

Chris Kermode, ATP’s executive chairman and president, added that the Amazon deal “will give this year’s inaugural tournament in Milan an international reach in a digital space that is only becoming increasingly important in the world of sport and entertainment.”

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