New Prime Video Offerings Will Make Amazon a Serious OTT Competitor

Amazon.com is planning to beef up its Prime Video offerings soon, reports Bloomberg Business, which could give it a serious advantage over Netflix and

Subscription News: New Prime Video Offerings Will Make Amazon a Serious OTT Competitor

Source: Amazon

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is planning to beef up its Prime Video offerings soon, reports Bloomberg Business, which could give it a serious advantage over Netflix and Hulu. According to unnamed Amazon insiders, Prime customers will be able to add other online subscriptions to their Prime accounts, including “major, well-known movie and TV channels,” along with pre-packaged bundles that Amazon will design.

The new additions will supplement Amazon’s current programming line-up and its own original shows like Red Oaks, Bosch and Transparent. They will also help Amazon to better compete with other popular streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu. Amazon may eventually hold the competitive advantage, however, based on its sheer size, customer base and retail expertise.

Though details were not offered and Amazon declined to confirm the news, sources with knowledge of Amazon’s plans said the on-demand networks will be available in one place, says Bloomberg Business. Amazon will participate in a revenue share agreement and manage the customer relationships for the other networks.

Subscription News: New Prime Video Offerings Will Make Amazon a Serious OTT Competitor

Source: Amazon

From a user perspective, subscribers will log into the other services with Amazon credentials, but it will still be clear that customers are accessing other networks. Subscribers will see branded “landing pages” within the Prime menu and log into the other networks from there, says DSL Reports.

In related news, CBS has agreed to make CBS All Access available on Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV stick with voice remote. CBS launched the digital subscription service in late 2014. For $5.99 a month, subscribers get access to more than 7,500 episodes of current series, previous seasons and classic shows on demand. It also allows users to access live CBS programming in 110 markets.

CBS All Access is available to subscribers via the CBS app, online at CBS.com, through Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Roku players and Roku TV.

Insider Take:

No news from Amazon.com surprises us anymore. As of today, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is worth nearly $60 billion, according to Forbes. He is a savvy entrepreneur with seemingly limitless resources and a willingness to take risks. He puts a lot of trust in his staff to bring him new ideas, he loves competing and experimenting, and he isn’t afraid to fail – though many of his projects and companies have, indeed, been successful.

With new players entering the over-the-top (OTT) television market regularly, Amazon is not content to be complacent, nor should it be. While it may currently be one of the major OTT players alongside Netflix and Hulu, it must continue to differentiate itself from other players. Amazon is not relying solely on unique content and good value to draw its share of the OTT market. It wants to become a marketplace of OTT options, making it the “go to” place for streaming video.

Paired with its $99/year Prime membership, which offers a host of other features like free two-day shipping and online photo and cloud storage, Amazon could overtake Netflix – or at least slow down Netflix’s growth – if it succeeds with these new offerings. Well played, Mr. Bezos. We’ll be watching…literally.

 

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