February 2 – Amazon is set to become the world’s biggest streaming investor in sports rights in 2026 with new analysis from Ampere finding that streaming services will spend a combined $14.2 billion on sports rights this year, up 7% on 2025.
Amazon Prime Video alone will account for 27% of that total, investing an estimated $3.8 billion and overtaking DAZN for the first time since the latter emerged as a disruptor in the sports media market in 2018.
For football, the figures underline Amazon’s accelerating role as a major rights holder rather than a complementary digital partner. Prime Video already holds key UEFA Champions League packages in the UK, Germany and Italy, including the much-coveted first-pick match from the group stage in several markets – a premium slot that has given the platform consistent access to the competition’s strongest fixtures and widest audiences.
That position is now being reinforced by Amazon’s growing year-round live sports portfolio. While the streamer’s $1.8bn-per-season NBA deal, entering its first full year in 2026, is the single largest driver of increased spend, football remains central to its international strategy alongside NFL Thursday Night Football in the US.
Ampere notes that DAZN’s spending fell back this year after a major outlay in 2025 on the FIFA Men’s Club World Cup.
Danni Moore, Senior Analyst – Ampere Sports at Ampere Analysis, said: “Since 2018, its first full year with top-tier sports rights, DAZN has been the leading streaming spender on sports. However, Amazon’s NBA deal, which began in the 2025–26 season, combined with its existing major rights for NFL Thursday Night Football in the US and the UEFA Champions League in Germany, Italy and the UK, means it overtakes DAZN’s spending for the first time this year.
“These rights give Amazon a year-round live sports portfolio in the US, including the two most popular domestic leagues – the NFL and NBA – allowing it not only to attract new subscribers but to retain them too.”
For football stakeholders, the broader trend may be just as significant as the headline numbers. General entertainment streamers such as Amazon are projected to account for 44% of all streaming spend on sports rights in 2026, up from 31% a year earlier, increasing competition in future rights cycles and raising the stakes for established sports-focused platforms.
Moore added: “The growing importance of live sport in driving subscriber acquisition and retention, and in maximising ad-tier revenue, has encouraged generalist streamers like Amazon Prime Video to become increasingly active in acquiring sports rights. As a result, these streamers will increasingly provide tough competition for DAZN in acquiring top-tier rights, as we’ve seen with the platform losing out to Paramount+ in the latest UEFA Champions League rights tender in Germany.”
With Champions League packages increasingly fragmenting across national markets and rights fees remaining resilient, Amazon’s rise to the top of the spending table signals a future in which football’s biggest competitions continue to sit firmly at the heart of wider broadcast output — rather than as stand-alone digital media propositions.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1771515288labto1771515288ofdlr1771515288owedi1771515288sni@g1771515288niwe.1771515288yrrah1771515288