Amazon had a mostly successful debut into live streaming of major sports events http://www.miamidolphinsteamonline.com/michael-deiter-jersey , with increased audience and an improved viewing experience in its first season showing NFL games.


”It’s too soon to say,” said Jim DeLorenzo, the head of Amazon Sports. ”We’re just in the early stages here. We were definitely pleased with the way things played out. It was great to partner with the NFL on this and we were really happy with how our customers reacted to it. But it’s too soon to say this impacts our strategy going forward.”

Amazon.com Inc. already had smaller deals with the ATP Tour to air last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals and the rights to show some men’s tennis tournaments to customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as an upcoming deal to show beach volleyball events.

But the NFL is the biggest endeavor Amazon has made so far after paying $50 million for the rights to stream 10 Thursday night games and an additional one on Christmas.

Amazon built on the audience Twitter had in 2016 in the first year of streaming on Thursday nights, with the averaging per-minute audience for the 11 games hitting 310,000, a 17 percent increase from Twitter’s numbers.

On a per capita basis, the biggest audience was in the District of Columbia, followed by Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Utah. Prime members in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and North Carolina watched for the longest amount of time.

Viewers who already are used to watching movies and scripted shows on Amazon’s various platforms stayed longer on the NFL, with the average viewer watching for 63 minutes.

The feed was usually much cleaner than on Twitter or some other streaming services and was delivered even faster than some cable systems, as opposed to the usual delay for online streaming.

”This was really our first step into distributing live sporting events at scale on a global basis,” DeLorenzo said. ”Of course there was learning. Because we’re so early on in that process of distributing this kind of content to our customers Garrett Bradbury Jersey , there are a number of things we can look at along the way.”

Even though television audiences for the NFL dropped for the second straight year as people cut the cord and drop cable or satellite service, the streaming audience on Amazon was still a small fraction compared with the more than 10 million viewers who watched on average the Thursday night games on NBC, CBS or the NFL Network. CBS and NBC pay about $45 million per game for the rights to their Thursday night broadcasts.

The NFL will decide soon its plans for Thursday night games next season, but it is expected to once again split the package between a broadcast and streaming partner.

Amazon offered alternate language feeds for the broadcast to cater to some of the fans from more 220 countries who tuned into the games, with feeds in Spanish, Portuguese and ”U.K. English,” for those less familiar with the American version of football.

”That was a fun component of what we were doing and we were glad to see customers reacted well to that as well,” DeLorenzo said.

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Rick Porcello hit a three-run double off former teammate Max Scherzer and pitched six effective innings, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday night.

Porcello got his first career extra-base hit came in the second inning on a 0-2 pitch after the Nationals intentionally walked Jackie Bradley Jr. Porcello drove Scherzer’s 96-mph fastball over the head of Juan Soto in left center for his first RBIs since 2009.

Scherzer and Porcello were teammates for five seasons with the Detroit Tigers.

Porcello (10-3) allowed two runs and seven hits. Craig Kimbrel got four outs for his 25th save.

Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy homered for the Nationals. Scherzer (10-5) struck out nine in six innings.

BRAVES 5, YANKEES 3, 11 INNINGS

NEW YORK (AP) – Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning that nicked the glove of a leaping Aaron Judge in right field, and the Braves beat the Yankees in a matchup of two of baseball’s best teams.

Johan Camargo homered early and Jesse Biddle (2-0) pitched out of a late jam for the NL East leaders, who earned their fourth consecutive victory. A.J. Minter got three outs for his fourth save.

The 20-year-old Acuna also doubled and drove in three runs, four years to the day after the touted rookie signed with the Braves (49-34).

Judge hit his 23rd homer for the Yankees (54-28), and second in two nights. David Robertson (5-3) got the loss.

INDIANS 9, ROYALS 3

KANSAS CITY Noah Fant Jersey , Mo. (AP) – Francisco Lindor homered twice and drove in a career-high seven runs, powering Cleveland to the road win.

Indians ace Corey Kluber (12-4), who failed to make it out of the second inning in his previous start at St. Louis, allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings.

Lindor belted a grand slam in the fourth and a three-run shot in the sixth.

Whit Merrifield homered on Kluber’s third pitch for his fourth career leadoff home run. Kansas City has lost 23 of their last 28 games.

Royals right-hander Jakob Junis (5-10) was tagged for nine runs, eight earned, and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

CARDINALS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 3

PHOENIX (AP) – Yadier Molina homered, Carlos Martinez pitched six effective innings and the Cardinals ended a four-game losing streak.

Molina hit a two-run single in the Cardinals’ four-run first inning against Robbie Ray (3-1) and hit his 12th homer off the left-hander in the sixth.

Jedd Gyorko also homered and had two RBIs to end Ray’s nine-game winning streak, dating to last season.

Martinez (5-4) allowed two runs and six hits. Bud Norris worked a perfect ninth for his 16th save.

Paul Goldschmidt had four hits and an RBI for the Diamondbacks, who have lost four straight.

ROCKIES 5, GIANTS 2

DENVER (AP) – Kyle Freeland turned in another sizzling start at Coors Field and Colorado scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on a throwing error by shortstop Brandon Crawford.

Freeland (8-6) settled in to go seven strong innings after surrendering a homer to Gorkys Hernandez on the first pitch of the game. It was Freeland’s 12th quality start of the season.

Wade Davis worked his way around a one-out double by Buster Posey in the ninth for his 24th save. He struck out Crawford to end the game.

San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner (1-3) was charged with three runs, two earned, and seven hits in six-plus innings.

BREWERS 6, TWINS 5, 10 INNINGS

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Brad Miller drew a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning, sending Milwaukee to the win.

Nate Orf, playing in his first major league game http://www.cowboyscheapauthenticstore.com/trysten-hill-jersey-cheap , was hit by a pitch from Zack Littell (0-2) leading off the 10th. Manny Pina followed with a single and Keon Broxton walked.

Hernan Perez then bounced into a fielder’s choice before Miller’s walk ended the game.

Corey Knebel (2-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for the Brewers, who trailed 5-1 after Robbie Grossman hit his first career grand slam in the fifth.

MARLINS 3, RAYS 2, 10 INNINGS

MIAMI (AP) – Yadiel Rivera’s infield hit in the 10th inning scored Brian Anderson, lifting Miami to the victory.

Anderson walked against Ryne Stanek (1-2) and took third on a single by J.T. Realmuto. Rivera, who entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth, then pulled a one-hopper up the line.

Third baseman Matt Duffy backhanded the ball and double-clutched in foul territory before making a wild throw home, but the play was ruled a hit.

Tampa Bay has lost 21 one-run games, most in the majors.

Drew Rucinski (3-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the win.

REDS 5, WHITE SOX 3

CINCINNATI (AP) – Alex Blandino’s double in the eighth inning completed Cincinnati’s four-run rally.

The Reds loaded the bases with one out against Chris Volstad (1-5). Adam Duvall grounded to first baseman Matt Davidson, who was indecisive. He took several steps toward first before throwing home too late to get Scooter Gennett scoring from third base.

Billy Hamilton followed with a sacrifice fly that tied it at 3, and Blandino’s pinch-hit double put the Reds in position for another comeback win. They’ve trailed in seven of their last 10 victories.

Dylan Floro (3-2) retired two in the eighth. Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 16th save in 18 chances.

TIGERS 3, BLUE JAYS 2

TORONTO (AP) – Jose Iglesias hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the Tigers earned their second straight victory following a season-long 11-game losing streak.

Niko Goodrum tripled off Seunghwan Oh (4-3) with one out and scored the winning run when Iglesias followed