We’ve talked in the past about how some audience members mainly millennials are moving away from traditional television in favor of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. However, one company that’s set to take on TV head-on with its streaming service is Amazon, which already has millions of subscribers tuned in with its Prime service. And it’s likely to get even more, with additional partners on board for programming.
A new article from Business Insider indicates just how Amazon could change the television landscape. It noted a recent deal where Amazon signed up with ex-Top Gear hosts Richard Hammond and James May on a new motoring-based show that will air exclusively on Prime, something that’s no doubt getting the attention of the fan base of that show.
This is just the beginning of Amazon’s new original content movement, according to the article, and for good reason. ” Over the last five years a technological revolution has seen more and more people watching their favorite films and television shows over the internet,” the author, Gabriel Tate, notes. “Instead of waiting for a time in the week when a broadcaster deigned to show the next episode in a particular series, viewers now have the opportunity to watch programs or movies at a time and a place of their choosing, whether that be in their living room between nine and 10 o clock on a Tuesday evening or under a tree in their local park on a Sunday afternoon.”
With tens of millions of subscribers across both pre-set devices and devoted peripherals like the Amazon Fire TV Amazon is planning to hook even more viewers with its forthcoming programs. Filmmaker Woody Allen has announced that his first TV project will be in compliance with Amazon, along with a new comedy from producer Steven Soderbergh, a film by Spike Lee, and an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel The Man In the High Castle, which will be executive produced by Prometheus director Ridley Scott.
Amazon first got its revival of digital services with the pick-up of Ripper Street, which was previously cancelled by the BBC back in 2013. Forty thousand people signed a petition to keep it alive, notes Chris Bird, Amazon s UK director of content strategy. When there s that level of interest, you need to take note of it. It’s been a popular hit ever since, along with others shows like Hand of God.
Shows with darker tone have a better chance on a streaming service as well, according to Transparent creator Jill Soloway. I go to work every day and I m making the exact thing I want to make, she said. I feel like I m making art.
Ben Watkins, creator of Hand of God, added, After [Brad Pitt zombie epic] World War Z, I realized that audiences want to know all about the hero s journey in these big movies, and at the end they want to be satisfied. With TV, it s completely the opposite: the looser it is, the better.
Amazon will more than likely continue with this business formula, introducing new programming, along with older series favorites that are big hits for streaming (like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead) to entice audiences. “I think we’re in a golden age of television,” said Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, speaking with The Telegraph.
The numbers don’t lie Amazon is definitely becoming a Prime choice.
