Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League play-off first leg tie between Manchester City and Real Madrid drew in a new streaming record for the platform.
More than four million viewers tuned into Madrid’s 3-2 comeback victory over City, which the streaming platform confirmed set a new livestreaming record for Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
This Champions League tie breaks the previous record for Amazon Prime Video UK which was set in February 2023, when Manchester City defeated Arsenal 3-1 in a match contested against the two Premier League title competitors that year.
The four million record viewership bolds well for the future of Prime Video’s coverage of the Champions League. The streaming platform signed a broadcast deal with UEFA last summer and is in the first season of a three-year agreement.
Prime Video gains a selection of Tuesday fixtures for its platform, and includes select knockout round fixtures up until the Final. It has been reported that Amazon pays out £30m per season as part of the deal.
In a bid to simplify its offering and not to confuse viewers, Amazon reached a deal with Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) TNT Sports – the primary UK broadcaster for the Champions League in the UK – to integrate its Discovery+ streaming service on the Prime Video platform.
Amazon’s foray into European football comes after it was announced that at the start of the 2025/26 Premier League season, it will no longer hold rights for live games.
This is due to Sky Sports and TNT Sports in the UK gaining all the broadcasting rights packages the Premier League offered. It did come as a surprise to many when a streaming platform like Prime Video was not selected as part of the next broadcast rights cycle, due to the proliferation of users on streaming platforms in recent years.
Amazon received praise over the last six years of its Premier League coverage, which included the options to watch live games with or without commentary.
