Amazon's "Thursday Night Football" own metrics show hopeful start

Amazon's metrics show that it "exceeded" its expectations for its debut of "Thursday Night Football," according to an internal memo obtained by Sports Business Journal.

Why it matters: As tech giants bet big on live sports rights, a successful "TNF" debut looks good for Amazon and its peers. It could encourage more streaming deals in the future for other live sports, Kerry writes.

Driving the news: According to SBJ, the memo from Amazon's vice president of Prime Video and global head of sports Jay Marine said its viewership is expected to pass its 12.5 million benchmark.

• Marine said that Amazon registered "the most watched night of primetime in the U.S. in the history of Prime Video."
• And he said that the game window resulted in "the biggest three hours for U.S. Prime sign ups ever in the history of Amazon."

What they're saying: Analysts called attention to that record number of Prime sign-ups.

• "A big part of the Amazon win," Parrot Analytics' Julia Alexander tweeted. "Not the entire win; Amazon wants to be a major player in the media space and prove that it can use its tech capabilities to be a major distributor within the future of sports."
• "#mindblown," LightShed Partners' Rich Greenfield tweeted.

Yes, but: These aren't Nielsen's numbers, which are expected to be released later this week.