Ad sales helped pay for NBA deal [Video]

Amazon Prime Video will be home to exclusive NBA games starting in the fall of 2025 as part of a new 11-year broadcast rights deal with the league, a deal perhaps only possible because of the evolution of the streamer’s business model.

In a conversation at the Bloomberg Screentime conference this week, Amazon’s Head of Prime Video Mike Hopkins explained his view that the streamer would not have pursued NBA rights if not for new revenue coming from the platform’s integration of advertising in recent months.

Hopkins also expressed his belief that Prime Video will be profitable as a standalone service “very soon.”

“Mainly what we wanted is to have a business model with Prime and advertising and all the other lines of business that we have, that is viable in and of itself and economically profitable for Amazon, and that’s going to happen … very soon,” Hopkins said.

“That’s …