• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, November 30, 2023

Amazon continues to expand Prime Video’s live sports offerings — this time, with a deal making it the exclusive outlet for five NASCAR Cup Series races for seven seasons starting in 2025.

Prime Video is sharing rights to NASCAR’s 2025 – 2031 seasons with NBC Sports, Fox Sports and TNT Sports, and some races will be streamed on NBC’s Peacock and on the B/R Sports add-on tier on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max.

But the deal, which makes Prime Video NASCAR’s first fully direct-to-consumer partner, is another notch in Amazon’s belt as it evolves into an increasingly serious live-sports competitor to broadcast and cable.

"With their compelling innovations in streaming multiple live feeds and data-driven insights, Prime Video has quickly become a staple in the homes of millions of consumers and sports fans throughout the country, including many NASCAR fans," said NASCAR president Steve Phelps. "We are thrilled to pair our proven ability to bring a large-scale audience of passionate fans with Prime Video's potential to introduce our sport to new viewers utilizing their unique platform.”

The five games in Amazon’s deal will conclude the first half of each NASCAR Cup season.

Prime Video will also share exclusive rights to practice and qualifying sessions for the entire Cup Series schedule during the contract period. Prime Video will stream those live from the start of each season through the final race of the midseason series, with the exceptions of the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500, Duel at Daytona, and NASCAR All-Star Race.

Prime Video will also produce pre- and post-race analysis and highlights programming.

In addition, the streaming service will feature an original documentary from NASCAR Studios chronicling NASCAR’s special “Garage 56” entry at the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Prime Video adds the races to a live sports roster that in the U.S. now includes its groundbreaking deals for the NFL’s Thursday Night and Black Friday football games and events spanning the WNBA, the NWSL, the New York Yankees, the Seattle Storm, Overtime Elite and the Professional Pickleball Association.

It also offers the ONE Championship in the U.S. and Canada, Premier League in the U.K., UEFA Champions League football in Germany and Italy, Roland-Garros and Ligue 1 in France, Australian swimming globally; New Zealand Cricket in India, Copa do Brasil football and the NBA in Brazil, and boxing and the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Japan.

Fans can also go through Prime Video Channels to subscribe to sports services including Eurosport, Fox Sports (Mexico), Viaplay Sport, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, NBA TV, DAZN (Germany and Spain), and Premiere FC (Brazil).