Compared to other services such as Netflix, Amazon does not invest that much in content. However, the situation is very different when it comes to Amazon. The company has different goals and it generates profit in a very different way.
Merchandise and content
Amazon is different from services such as HBO and Netflix because it can use merchandise searches as a way of promoting Prime Video as well. For instance, back in 2017, Amazon bought the rights to the “Lord of the Rings” series. Now you can look up The Hobbit on Amazon, and, next to the books and merch that you can buy, you will also find an option to subscribe to Prime Video.
The Prime ecosystem
For Amazon, the main priority remains to attract new users to the Prime ecosystem. Those who become Prime members are more willing to spend money, and they are more profitable for the company in the long run.
“Amazon looks at content creation through a very different lens than a traditional media company,” said Rich Greenfield, a media analyst at BTIG. “A traditional media company is, ‘Well, how much advertising can I generate from this?’ Amazon, the first thing when they talked about the NFL, the number one metric they were looking at is ‘new to Prime,’ meaning new people that have come into the Prime ecosystem because those are people that spend a lot more over the year than people that are not part of the Prime ecosystem.”
Sports
In the future, it appears that Amazon might start focusing on live sports. The company already tried to get streaming rights to Premier League games and Thursday night football. However, a bigger exclusive deal is needed if Prime Video will try to use sports in order to attract users.
Nora Reynolds is a major in biology and a minor in Biological Basis of Behavior, writing about science in general. She also likes to try new gadgets and sports about the AI new era.
