The NFL today launched the next iteration of its direct-to-consumer app with some very specific rights around streaming games—and of course it’s called NFL+.
On Monday, the league made NFL+ the official successor app to NFL Game Pass, sunsetting that subscription product domestically. NFL+ has a two-tiered subscription model, basic ($4.99 a month) and premium ($9.99 a month), and no ad component to start.
NFL+ will stream in-market games—games that are already available through TV broadcasts in local markets—and primetime games to mobile devices and tablets. The premium version of NFL+ will have replays of all games on mobile devices, tablets and through a connected TV app. “There is a CTV component,” said Gil Moran, NFL’s VP of strategy and business management, in a recent phone interview. “NFL+ will be available on CTV. A lot of the viewing on TV is going to be the game replays.” The NFL also has hundreds of hours of video-on-demand programs.
With NFL+, the league continues to develop its own streaming services, even if it is still fairly limited. But it opens the potential to bring more league content directly to viewers. For instance, the NFL will stream all preseason games live on the app, in-market and out-of-market, on mobile, tablet and connected TVs. In the case of "Thursday Night Football," though, which Amazon paid big money to host, NFL+ will only stream those games on mobile devices and tablets.
“If you are looking to consume the games on TV through the Amazon ecosystem, that’s where you go,” Moran said. “And that’s where we would encourage people to go. NFL+ is going to have those games, like every other game in the regular season, on mobile and tablet.”