Streaming’s Hail Mary… As the NFL’s preseason kicks off, streamers like Google’s YouTube, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, and Amazon’s Prime Video are hoping their costly deals to broadcast games will boost subs, but it’s no guarantee. After Amazon became the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football” last season, TNF viewership plummeted 41%. YouTube, which is paying $2B/season for “NFL Sunday Ticket,” will need 4.5M subs to break even on the deal (former rights-holder DirecTV had ~1.5M). Cash-burning streamers are hoping for a W this season.
When fresh goes stale… Amazon’s planning to revamp its grocery-shopping experience as it reaches for a larger slice of the $1.5T US market. In addition to redesigning its Fresh stores and adding Whole Foods locations, it said it’ll expand its fresh-food delivery to non-Prime members. The “everything store” had struggled to sell perishables profitably (picture: huge minimum orders to break even), and last month it cut 100s of Amazon Fresh employees. Now, despite its record of shuttering Amazon Books and Go locations, it’s doubling down on IRL stores.