Amazon Prime Video bags India rights for New Zealand cricket

Amazon Prime Video, on Tuesday, November 10, became the first Indian streaming service to secure exclusive cricket rights after signing a deal with New Zealand Cricket. NZC penned down the deal with the OTT platform by acquiring the India rights through 2025-26.

After the deal between NZC and Amazon, Prime Video has gotten the rights to stream all the men’s and women’s international matches to be played in New Zealand, across ODI, Test and T20I formats, starting late 2020-21.

The deal also consists of India’s tour of New Zealand in early 2022 and another tour, the dates of which are yet to be announced. As of now, Amazon is indenting to syndicate the rights for the 2020-21 season, starting late in November.

A massive step for Amazon Prime

Gaurav Gandhi, Director & Country General Manager, Amazon Prime Video, reckons that the streaming platform has a massive fan-following in India. Hence, keeping in mind the same, they have taken the step to add cricket in their list.

“Over the last few years Amazon Prime Video has become the go-to destination for world-class entertainment in India, be it our Amazon Original Series or the biggest blockbuster movies across languages,” Gandhi was quoted as saying in a statement.

“… We are thrilled to work with New Zealand Cricket on this endeavour as they have a strong, passionate and much-loved cricket team, and the cricketing rivalry between the two countries has been fantastic.

“We are happy to make this collaboration with New Zealand Cricket our first live sports offering in India, and are confident that our Prime members will be delighted with this initiative,” he added.

David White, Chief Executive New Zealand Cricket, lauded India for being a passionate cricket following nation. “India has always been important for viewership of NZC; no other country follows cricket like India, so it’s exciting to be announcing this agreement with India’s leading streamer,” he added.

Earlier this year, Prime Video released the documentary “The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team”. It was regarding Australia’s journey after the ball-tampering scandal and how the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner made a comeback. It also streamed Emmy-winning Amazon Original “All or Nothing”.