A Saturday wild-card game will be available for streaming in prime time, marking an outstanding change for the NFL.
This season, the league has decided to air one playoff game exclusively on a digital platform as part of its new rights agreement with NBCUniversal (NBCU).
The upcoming game on January 13, 2023, will be touted as the “first-ever exclusive live-streamed NFL playoff game.”
It will be available on NBCU’s streaming service, Peacock, during prime time at either 8:15 PM or 8:30 PM (ET). Additionally, NBC and Peacock will broadcast the wild-card game in prime time the following day.
Fans will also have access to the game on NBC stations in the markets of the competing teams, as well as on mobile devices through the NFL+ package. Prior to this game, a late afternoon playoff matchup will take place on NBC and Peacock at 4:30 PM.
Although the terms of the agreement remain undisclosed, the Wall Street Journal reported that the one-year deal is valued at $110 million.
According to Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, “We had our first season with Amazon [this past year], and I think that with the digital platforms, we’re ready for live sports at scale.
And the next step is to step into the postseason.” He expressed satisfaction with the strategy developed by Peacock and NBC, emphasizing the desire to reach the largest audience possible across all platforms.
As part of the NFL’s postseason domestic rights contract, each of the four broadcast partners—NBC, CBS, Fox, and ESPN/ABC—is allocated at least one wild-card game per season.
Among the two remaining games, one rotates annually between NBC, CBS, and Fox, while the other is open for bidding each year.
On January 14, NBC will also present the prime-time Sunday wild-card game, while earlier matchups that day will be handled by Fox and CBS.
To conclude the opening weekend, ESPN will broadcast the Monday game on January 15. This marks the third consecutive year that the NFL has scheduled wild-card games over three days.
The Saturday night wild-card game has consistently attracted over 20 million viewers in the past two seasons.
Last year, the matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chargers drew an average of 20.6 million viewers, while the previous season’s game between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots averaged 26.4 million viewers.
This new agreement extends the NFL’s current 11-year rights contract with NBCU, which commenced this season.
Under this contract, Peacock will also hold exclusive rights to one regular season game annually, with this year’s matchup featuring the Buffalo Bills against the Los Angeles Chargers in prime time on December 23.
The NFL’s recent change towards streaming follows its decision to grant Amazon Prime Video exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football last season.
Additionally, since 2021, ESPN has had rights to broadcast one international game per season on ESPN+.
This new rights deal coincides with NBCU designating Peacock as the home for its coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where the platform will stream every event across all sports, including all 329 medal events.
This strategic pivot towards streaming as the central hub for Olympic coverage represents a change in approach as NBCU seeks to enhance the audience experience after facing low viewership during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
