As fans gather ’round the TV to watch “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video, Amazon is kicking off a football-related campaign that positions its Alexa device as just another member of the gang.

Created by Seattle-based agency Little Hands of Stone and directed by Dan Opsal of Hungry Man, the campaign consists of a series of 15- and 30-second ads that will begin rolling out on Prime Video tonight when the Arizona Cardinals host the New Orleans Saints.

In the various spots, Amazon's Alexa is shown as the unlikely hero who elevates each so-called crew’s Prime Video viewing experience: helping fans trash-talk their buddies, timing a user’s smart home set-up to boost a climactic play, or rewinding a touchdown when someone just so happens to have a mouthful of chili and can’t find the TV remote.

“NFL football is a team sport. Not just when you play it, but when you watch it. That’s why most fans have a crew they like to watch football with,” said Matt McCain, co-founder of Little Hands of Stone, which won Newcomer, Silver in Ad Age’s 2020 Small Agency of the Year awards.

Tonight’s Saints-Cardinals matchup marks the seventh “Thursday Night Football” game on Prime Video this year, but since the season opener last month, Amazon has been doing all it can to help advertisers set realistic expectations for the streaming-only games.

Read more: How 'Thursday Night Football' advertisers feel about Amazon's ratings

Some potential “Thursday Night Football” sponsors had expressed concerns about Prime Video drawing smaller audiences for football than linear TV, top ad executives told Ad Age ahead of the start of this NFL season.

Those projections were reflected in Amazon’s initial pricing, an ad buyer familiar with the negotiations said, with the company asking an average of about $500,000 per 30-second commercial during each game. If accurate, that’s down more than 20% compared to the average $635,439 Fox was netting for a 30-second spot when it had the rights to “Thursday Night Football” last season, according to Ad Age's annual TV pricing survey.

Despite some initial trepidation, Amazon’s NFL games seem to be attracting slightly more eyeballs than first expected.

The company’s first “Thursday Night Football” game, a Sept. 15 matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs, drew 13 million viewers exclusive of local linear broadcasts, according to Nielsen, coming in over the 12.5 million-strong estimate Amazon was said to be using in its deal-making pitches to advertisers.

Read more: Amazon Prime Video snags NFL's new Black Friday game in 2023