NHL hopes to score big audiences with Amazon streaming launch
CBC
The NHL has officially joined the world of streaming.
Amazon Prime Video's new National Hockey League broadcast Prime Monday Night Hockey — the league's first exclusive national broadcast package with a digital-only streaming service in Canada — kicked off Monday night.
It's part of a new deal that saw Amazon acquire the rights to broadcast all national, regular-season Monday night NHL games for the next two seasons through an agreement with Rogers.
The first streaming broadcast featured a game between the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins, in which the Penguins defeated the Canadiens 6-3.
Some fans are already reacting positively.
Jordon Johnson, a self-described "die hard" Montreal Canadiens fan, was watching the game Monday night.
He described the broadcast as "high quality" and "simplistic."
The focused discussion of the panel between periods was also a highlight for Johnson, who says broader discussions about the league can take away from his viewing experience.
"I'm used to a big broadcast team that's very vocal about all the teams and all the games," he said. "This one felt very geared toward this game."
Amazon Prime's broadcast primarily featured a three-person panel consisting of former NHLer Mark Messier, broadcaster Adnan Virk and Blake Bolden, a former player in the Premier Hockey Federation/National Women's Hockey League (NHWL). Other analysts, including Andi Petrillo, were featured throughout.
Amazon Prime Video is also working with the NHL in other ways.
Earlier this month, the platform premiered FACEOFF: Inside the NHL, a docuseries that follows some of the league's biggest stars at different stages of their careers.
"Behind the scenes stuff I think is very smart and popular," said David Hardisty, an associate professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. "There's a lot of people that are hardcore fans and just want more."
He described the NHL's partnership with Amazon as a "play for the future."
