With fewer viewers watching NFL games on TV, the race for online video content amongst social media heavyweights is on. The NFL remains the most valuable programming in the United States, and while Facebook recently unveiled Facebook Watch, a new platform for shows, Amazon Prime has been at the forefront with its Over-The-Top content (OTT). Here’s a look at some of the latest developments from this week:

TNF comes to Amazon: Earlier this year, Amazon won the rights to stream the NFL Thursday Night Football package to the tune of $50M, which was significantly more than the $10M Twitter paid the previous year. They outbid companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook. TNF kicks off on Amazon Prime tonight, with the Bears visiting the Packers. It’s the first of 11 streamed games that will be made available to their millions of subscribers across the globe, which includes over 200 countries. Some of the branded programming content includes the Amazon TNF Kickoff Show featuring Tiki Barber and celebrity chef Curtis Stone and Trivia with Alexa, in tandem with Amazon’s custom viewing boxes. The brown boxes, colored like a football, have a “Thursday Night Football” logo and a “Stream Live with Prime Membership” bug. With the 2018 TNF streaming package soon up for bid, you can be sure their competitors will be watching closely to determine how much this NFL offering is actually worth. If last year’s negotiation is any indication, the bid for next year’s rights could exceed $100M. 

NFL, Facebook partner: The NFL and Facebook announced a multi-year deal Tuesday to deliver official NFL video and other types of content to fans around the world. The NFL will publish NFL Game Recaps and official highlights from all 256 regular-season games (as well as the playoffs and Super Bowl) that will be available globally on Facebook. In addition, NFL Media, the League’s owned and operated media division, will distribute uniquely packaged content from its award-winning production arm, NFL Films, on Facebook’s Watch platform. NFL Turning Point, Sound FX and NFL Game Recaps will be posted each week during the NFL season and will be available to people in the U.S. on Watch. “We’re excited for Watch to become a destination for NFL fans to catch up on the latest on-field action and connect with one another,” said Dan Reed, Facebook’s Head of Global Sports Partnerships, in a released statement. “These full-game recaps and shows will deliver comprehensive coverage while enabling the active NFL fan communities on Facebook to watch and debate the top storylines from each week.”

Head help ahead: In other NFL-related tech news, the league announced that it has awarded a total of $426,000 in grants to three firms as part of its HeadHealthTECH Challenge, which is designed to advance improvements in those areas. Baytech Products of Asheville, N.C., was awarded a $178,000 grant to build and test its prototype HitGard, a multi-component helmet system. Also receiving $148,000 will be Windpact of Leesburg, Va., to support prototyping and testing of its Crash Cloud, an impact liner system using restricted air flow and foam in helmets. Getting $100,000 will be 2ND Skull of Pittsburgh, Pa., to further evaluate the effectiveness of its skull cap in reducing impact forces and developing a second-generation version. Launched in November 2016, the TECH Challenge series is operated and managed on behalf of Football Research Inc., by Duke University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

In order to cater to the ‘superfan’ among the NFL’s most passionate supporters, Super Bowl champion and Seahawks QB Russell Wilson has announced the launch of his new app, TraceMe.

The new project provides an immersive, interactive and content-filled experience between fan and celebrity, according to the company. Users will have access to a weekly Wilson-led podcast as well as insight and tips on how to train like the QB.

“Now that it’s football season, my No. 1 priority is leading the Seahawks to another Super Bowl victory,” Wilson said in a statement. “TraceMe is going to help me on that journey by providing me with a direct line to my most passionate supporters.”

The app recently announced a $9 million Series A funding round led by Madrona Venture Group. Among a group of angel investors is Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Here’s a look at other new developments on the grid horizon, courtesy of Rick Serritella.

Lynch Out Loud: The comeback of Raiders OH Marshawn Lynch is paying dividends for the budding reality show star. That is not a misprint folks. The character once known for not speaking to the media at the Super Bowl will now be the focal point of a reality show produced by Bleacher Report. The show, “No Script,” will begin streaming this month on Facebook Watch as the social media titan attempts to compete with Amazon and Netflix with original sports video content. While their new video offerings are barely even a month old, Facebook has opened its bank account to ensure this project gets off the ground quickly. Lynch’s deal is reportedly in the millions, according to Reuters, while the Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook intends to invest up to a billion dollars on original shows.

More reality programming: As the market for original sports content heats up, Amazon announced a new show featuring the University of Michigan football team and head coach Jim Harbaugh. The show will spotlight players and coaches in day-to-day life on campus and provide an inside look at practice and game day. “We are proud to partner with Amazon Prime Video in documenting our University of Michigan student-athletes’ daily experiences and lifelong lessons learned both on the football field and in the classroom,” Harbaugh said in a statement. It will be produced by BTN Orginals and the Montag Group, and will be released in January. Meanwhile, the NFL Network has two other docu-series ready for launch. “Football Town: Valdosta, GA,” is produced by Panthers QB Cam Newton and chronicles the 2016 Valdosta High School football team. The new series airs Tuesday nights and will be followed by “Elite 11,” which tells the story of the nation’s best young athletes as they look to follow in the footsteps of others such as No. 1 overall draft picks Matthew Stafford, Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston and Jared Goff.

Six more seconds: Last week, we examined the introduction of six-second ads on NFL broadcasts. It didn’t take long for other to follow. According to Adweek, look for six-second ads to begin appearing on YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn, among other platforms. It’s the latest attempt to keep advertising relevant as modern attention spans decrease. In a new ad campaign aimed at potential advertisers, YouTube claims  that millennials and members of Generation Z aren’t the only demographics that watch online video. The plan is to eventually phase out longer ads traditionally used at the outset of such content.

If it seems as if a day doesn’t go by without news of a new football livestream offering, you’re right. With media entities such as Twitter and Facebook now over a decade old, the millennial generation has become accustomed to watching football online, which means increased revenue opportunities for the NFL and more smiles on owner’s faces.

With that in mind, here are some items of interest from NFL Draft Bible’s Ric Serritella, especially to those people seeking to find a niche in the game.

Six-second ads: During the offseason, the NFL announced its intention to eliminate the ‘double-up’ commercial breaks. If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s when broadcast networks decide to go to commercial break following a touchdown, then again following the kickoff. These ‘double ups’ have helped the league generate about $3.5 billion for the five networks carrying their broadcasts (CBS, Fox, ESPN, NBC and NFL Network). On the other hand, they’ve irritated fans and made for longer games at a time when attention spans are getting shorter.

With the growing influence of social media, the average user’s attention span has drastically decreased. According to a recent Microsoft study, the average attention span is now eight seconds, down from 12 in 2000, which would make it shorter than a goldfish.

So what’s the answer? Six-second ads. Fox is the first to announce this offering. Ads will debut on America’s Game of the Week and be deployed in a variety of forms, including a shorter commercial load or in-game execution, designed to “most seamlessly integrate with each type of sport.”

C-USA goes with Flo: Whether you’re away from home, out of market or on the go, the recent increase of online livestream channels has made it easier to keep up with every college football team. The latest to enter the arena is FloSports, which has signed an agreement to broadcast Conference USA games.

The deal includes exclusive live and on-demand coverage of three regular-season games featuring Charlotte, Western Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, Louisiana Tech and Rice. Though lacking the national exposure of the Power Five conferences, most of which own their own network, Conference USA is leading the charge as an early adaptor to Over-The-Top (OTT) content. They also struck a deal with Stadium, in addition to beIN SPORTS, which makes its 2017 Conference USA debut Saturday with FIU’s home opener against Alcorn State, the first of 10 Saturday evening games on the network.

Though NFL broadcast networks generated a bundle in ad sales, the biggest money-maker for NFL owners comes from TV deals. Last year, the league earned $7.8 billion in TV broadcast rights. That means each NFL team earned $244 million from broadcast deals before the season began.

NFL expands social networking: As the league continues to turn toward livestream online network deals, a recent shareholder report by Twitter signals that an increasing NFL presence on social media is arriving faster than we ever imagined. According to the report, last year’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) livestream package drew an average of 3.5 million unique viewers per game, with 55 percent under the age of 25, an indication of the strong demographic metrics most advertisers covet.

The success was so great that Twitter lost out on the TNF package to Amazon this year, which paid $50 million for the rights to the package, five times more than what Twitter paid the year before. However, Twitter managed to keep skin in the game by agreeing to a multi-year deal with the league to provide uniquely packaged official NFL video.