• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 29, 2023

Amazon aired this past weekend what it hopes will become a new Black Friday tradition. Its first Black Friday football game streamed on Prime Video.

The event featured commercials from Hasbro, Dyson, Beats Studio Buds, and others.

Consumers watching the game on Amazon Fire TV devices had the ability to shop directly from the screen using their remote to add an item to their Amazon shopping cart.

The idea is to fuel Amazon's ecommerce business from the brand’s website to the Amazon marketplace. 

Amazon sold all its advertising inventory for its Black Friday game. "Thursday Night Football" programming on Amazon has attracted an average of nearly 13 million viewers per game this year, up 25% from last year.

This is only the beginning for Amazon and its push into sports tied to online shopping and ecommerce. 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NFL Next Gen Stats partnered to publish an online game called “Playbook Pass Rush.” Gamers can design plays on both the offense and defense to see the effectiveness, using real data from the newest NFL Next Gen Stat Pressure Probability technology developed by the two organizations. 

The game is part of an effort to help fans better understand how the stats powered by artificial intelligence (AI) support NFL broadcasts.  

NFL Next Gen Stats have been used in game broadcasts since 2017, when the companies first partnered. Now AWS and the NFL are bringing Next Gen Stats to life. 

For the NFL league, machine learning (ML) and data analysis have become a game-changer to demonstrate performance.

AWS believes the technology will change the game and redefine football analysis. That analysis also can help to support decisions made around advertising and consumer behavior. 

Players act as the coach in Playbook Pass Rush, which designs plays to sack the opposing quarterback or protect their own player, based on factors such as formation, downs and distance.

Powered by AI and developed by AWS, Pressure Probability quantifies the likelihood of each defender creating pressure. It uses four AI models based on more than 90,000 plays from the last five years of football. 

Technology like this will change the NFL game.

Pressure Probability is the newest AI-powered stat developed by AWS and the NFL Next Gen Stats team. It was introduced by the NFL in September. Thirteen different metrics can be derived from it.

As for the game, it is helping to educate fans on how advanced statistics are used in real-time during "Thursday Night Football."

It also works as a way to show how pressure probability is used during the games, and is being shared on social media platforms including Instagram, X and Facebook.

NFL players are also promoting it on their individual social channels.

The game is a way to increase fan engagement while also helping viewers and players of the game to better understand the statistics and what goes into them, according to AWS.