Those who take on the role of technical advisor to Jeff Bezos represent executives who are likely to serve as Jeff Bezos's “shadow” for a time, and then go on to do great things.
One of them is Jay Mullin, who oversees Amazon's sports business as vice president and global head of sports for Prime Video. Marin is little known in the U.S. sports world, but he has a far greater profile on Amazon. Mr. Mullin, a 20-year veteran of the company, helped launch Amazon's first in-house device, the Kindle, and later served as an advisor to Mr. Bezos from 2013 to 2015. The role involved traveling and attending meetings with Bezos, an intense role whose alumni include the current CEO. Andy Jassy.
From there, Marine was sent to London to launch Prime Video overseas in 2015, leading to its expansion into sports, starting with US Open tennis and Premier League soccer rights. The NFL's “Thursday Night Football” is now under his direction as a result of an $11 billion, 11-year contract.
Industry insiders who have done business with Mr. Marin say he is analytical and pragmatic, without the big personality that would put him in competition with many of the sports executives with whom he could negotiate. The New Jersey-based father of three girls said on a Sports Media podcast that his “claim to fame” is playing in high school basketball playoff games against Chris Webber and football games against Tyrone Wheatley. I joked that it was.
“Neither one of them went very well for me, but I got the match,” he said.
He compared his current role to Amazon's early rough days, saying, “I think we're at our best as a company when we act like a startup. I love building things.”
Marine, third from the left, with WBD, NASCAR, and NBC executives announcing NASCAR's new media rights deal in 2023. Chris Gracen/Getty Images
Marin's next move could be in the NBA, where Amazon is coveting its young fan base around the world. On March 9, the league began 45 days of negotiations with incumbents Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery. If the NBA were to create a third digital rights package, many see Amazon as a better candidate than Apple and Netflix, which have only made smaller moves. In live sports.
Marine's main job is to prove that sports can be a valuable and effective asset in keeping people signed up for Amazon's $139-a-year Prime membership.
“For us, it all starts with prime,” Marin told CNBC in a rare interview last fall. “We sit down and think about how we can make Prime better, how we can add more value to Prime. We want Prime to be the best membership in the world.”
According to antenna research, sports programming can function beyond its role as a retention tool for streamers. And the rise of sports within Amazon is creating tensions between sports and entertainment over finite resources. Some entertainment insiders say that in January, Amazon-MGM Studios announced that it had made major developments like “The Lord of the Rings,” but was generally seen as a moderate success. Some see the start of operations as a clear shift of power to the marine and sports business. The company's production division and Prime Video have made some of the biggest layoffs to date.
Amazon has not commented on the matter.
Most of Amazon's sports initiatives are happening in stages.
Marin said Amazon plans to become a prominent sports broadcaster in major countries around the world in the long term. However, it is unclear what exactly that means in terms of the right to bid and the right not to bid.
Aside from its big bet on “TNF,'' Amazon's sports efforts are making significant progress. There are WNBA matches, Premier Boxing Champions matches, and some NASCAR rights. The company invested $115 million in Diamond Sports, rescued the local sports broadcaster from bankruptcy, and struck a deal that gives Amazon streaming rights to its games. The deal allows the Diamonds to continue broadcasting the NBA locally, increasing Amazon's chances of acquiring national NBA rights, wrote Stratechery analyst Ben Thompson.
But Amazon passed on the Pac-12 last year, according to Sports Business Journal. His Premier League contract was not renewed last year either.
Marin said on the podcast that Amazon focuses on the most popular (and expensive) sports that draw the biggest audiences, but emerging (and cheaper) areas like women's sports that have the potential for growth. The National Women's Soccer League also has interest, citing a deal with the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League.
Media consultant Patrick Crakes said it's still up in the air whether sports can change Prime's direction, but the NBA's long season is attractive and could help Amazon build sports viewing habits. He said that there is a sex.
“I think they're experimenting,” Crakes said. “Experimentation has become more serious. The level of scrutiny is now at the highest level. [Marine is] I pay attention to it every day. ”
Marine's team is also in flux. Marie Donahue, an ESPN veteran who was tapped to handle Amazon's sports rights negotiations in 2018 and is credited with helping land “TNF,'' was hired by Marie Donahue to move into her current role in early 2022. At that moment, I realized that I was in a situation between her and Mike, the senior vice president. Hopkins. She transferred to DraftKings in January.
Amazon's continued commitment to sports is not a given.
John Costner, a former ESPN executive and current sports media and technology consultant, said Amazon Prime's move into advertising could help it add more sports. Advertisers are willing to pay high prices to advertise on live sports, attracting loyal fans who are accustomed to watching ads during breaks.
There is a consensus that Amazon has an advantage in negotiations with the league because it has more spending power than its rivals. Under Donahue, the company went all out for “TNF,'' including promoting it with Super Bowl ads and hiring star casters.
But Amazon isn't a company that overspends just because it can. Sports isn't as important to Amazon as it is to Disney or Warner Bros. Discovery.
If Prime doesn't see a return on the billions it spends on sports, its ambitions could be curtailed.
Research firm Kantar said the Premier League boosted Prime subscriptions in 2021, and Marin said Amazon's first “TNF'' game attracted a record number of Prime subscribers. Since then, he has remained conspicuously silent on the subject.
And it's not all about money for sports leagues. They have other interests besides helping Amazon sell more products, including having a partner with social channels and a content arm that can help grow the league's viewership.
Still, “TNF'' has gained more trust from the league and advertisers. Average viewership in his second year was up 24% from his first year, to about 12 million viewers per game, and the audience is younger than the TV broadcast.
“I think things are changing,” Marin said on the podcast. “The league is more excited than ever to work with us.”
