The NFL Got Into the Streaming Game - How Much is it Making?

There are two big trends we've seen recently. The first is that everyone is getting into the streaming race and the second is that more and more apps are attempting to monetize their users directly.

The NFL leaned into both by introducing NFL+, a new streaming offering that's done direct-to-viewer and not through a third party as it always has.

A big chunk of NFL+ and NFL+ Premium, the two tiers users can subscribe to, is mobile-only, making this a very interesting move in a world normally governed by legacy rights agreements.

The 2022 season kicked off a few weeks ago, which means we should now be able to answer the simple question of whether the NFL is making money as a streamer.

The answer is yes. Of course it is!

According to our estimates, NFL+ and NFL+ Premium have already earned a combined total of more than $10.5 million. And that's net revenue, meaning what the NFL gets to keep after Apple and Google take their share.

86% of that total came from the App Store, which shouldn't come as a surprise at this point, and while almost all of the revenue came from the US, a handful of other countries are showing interest in an American sport by opening their wallets.

Revenue grew gradually before the season started and exploded last weekend. Our estimates show NFL's mobile revenue crossed $1,000,000 on Sunday.

I expect to see more growth here and also more incentives for viewers to move away from third parties and over to the app. What a time to stream!

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