‘Jack Ryan’ Super Bowl Spot Signals Big New Play For Amazon

‘Jack Ryan’ Super Bowl Spot Signals Big New Play For Amazon

Solidifying its leap into the small screen big time and revealing the launch date, Amazon on Sunday will debut its very first Super Bowl ad for a TV series or movie with a spot for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.

Related
Super Bowl Movie Trailers: Netflix's 'Cloverfield' Sequel To Run Spot? 'Jurassic World', 'Mission: Impossible' & More To Air

Coming right after the Justin Timberlake-fronted halftime show on February 4 on NBC, the presidential-punctuated spot for the August 31-premiering Jack Ryan is a clear sign the House of Bezos is looking for prime real estate in primetime. Watch the ad above.

Also, with this ad for the Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland co-created Clancy adaptation of sorts starring John Krasinski, Amazon Studios is reaffirming its recent move away from more niche-based shows like the recently canceled I Love Dick to a wider and more general audience. Because let’s be honest, if you want to look at authors over the last 50 years who’ve sold boat loads of books, you’d be hard-pressed with the exception of J.K. Rowling to find one with a bigger general audience than Clancy — even if this series is not directly based on one of his many books. Additionally, the author, who died in 2013, is right in league with the demo for the NFL, directly or inspirationally.

And location is a big factor in the inaugral big play for the streamer.

“Because of the entertainment value of the program, we think we can capture customers that come in for the halftime show as well as customers that are there for the game,” Amazon Studios’ marketing chief Mike Benson told Deadline on Tuesday. “We are marketing a show that is ultimately about entertainment, so positioning it right after the halftime show made the most sense for us.”

In an era of declining big-ticket events and awards show viewership and NFL ratings down 10% this season on average, it should be noted that last year’s Super Bowl saw 111 million tune in to see the New England Patriots historic overtime comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons.

In the eight-episode Amazon series co-produced with Paramount TV and Skydance TV, Krasinski plays a younger version of CIA operative Jack Ryan and follows in the footsteps of such actors as Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine who’ve portrayed the character on the big screen to varying degrees of success.

As a burgeoning agency analyst on the Amazon series, this Ryan uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit with a new breed of terrorism that threatens destruction on a global scale.

Abbie Cornish, The Wire vet Wendell Pierce, Ali Suliman, Dina Shihabi and Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez co-star on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan with Krasinski. Roland executive produces with Lost alum Cuse and Lindsey Springer of Carlton Cuse Prods. Platinum Dunes’ Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form and the movie franchise’s producer Mace Neufeld are EPs. Helming the pilot, Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum also serves as EP.

RelatedBlack Panther Buckles In For Lexus Super Bowl Ad – Watch