With brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• Advertising Age reports that as Amazon begins selling commercial packages for its Thursday Night Football package - it will have exclusive rights to those games beginning in September 2022, running through the 2033 season, the first all-digital deal for the NFL - it could be charging as much as 20 percent more to advertisers than they have been paying for broadcast television time.
"Over the past two weeks, Amazon has sent proposals to the NFL, which is presenting the options to official sponsors, according to media buyers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity," Ad Age writes. "It’s common for NFL broadcasting partners, which now include Amazon, to offer the league’s top sponsors the right of first refusal."
The story says that "Amazon has asked for up to $30 million from sponsors, which ad buyers said was an expensive first salvo. Amazon is offering the traditional sponsorships, with pregame, pre-kick, halftime, and post-game slots, according to media buyers."
Ad Age offers some context: "The most-watched Thursday game this season, not including the one on Thanksgiving Day, drew more than 20 million viewers; but audiences are typically smaller, ranging between 10 million and 20 million viewers … Media buyers also said that Amazon is expected to raise the CPMs or cost to reach 1,000 views."
It is all part of Amazon's plan for world domination. Amazon is taking no prisoners when it comes to the football package; there have been reports that it could lure sportscasters like Al Michaels and Tory Aikman into the Thursday night booth. (I wonder if Amazon will be able to make the play-by-play - no matter who does it - available via its Alexa system?)
• Axios reports that "Los Angeles-based Coco, a remotely piloted delivery service, has officially expanded to Austin … The Austin rollout is expected to include 50 new Coco 1 bots."
Coco is described as a "a driverless, four-wheeled robot," and in Austin "the company has partnered with Austin favorites: Arpeggio Grill, Bamboo Bistro, Clay Pit, DeSano Pizzeria, Tuk Tuk Thai and Aviator Pizza."
According to Axios, "Company officials said they are targeting Dallas, Houston and Miami in the next few months."
