Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s media business is increasingly becoming an integral part of Amazon’s technological empire. However, the company reveals little in terms of the number of subscribers the company’s Prime service managed to rope in. While the company’s customer-centric focus is unparalleled, many investors have been skeptical of the company’s big media investments as the company’s big bets on digital video and music puts it face to face with very dominant players including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) , Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Amazon is investing heavily on originals
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is investing heavily in building out more content through its movie-making unit, Amazon Studios. And the company just recently chose 5 shows based on customer reviews to make full seasons from an array of 14 pilot episodes of comedy and kids TV shows. And Amazon Studios has around 24 movies in the pipeline, all of which will be chosen by the audiences of Amazon and its subsidiary, LOVEFiLM.
Amazon is investing in content geared towards kids, a space that has been heavily dominated by The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and also Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA). Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) does realize the importance of having a family-friendly offering, and thus the original content shows which will tap into a much younger consumer demographic.
In addition, Amazon’s Hollywood Footprint, IMDB will aid substantially in the company endeavors of being a prominent Internet TV outlet. IMDB can serve as a massive promotional tool by notably displaying the wares of Amazon Studios as well as link users to buy on-demand services on Amazon Instant Video. IMDB routinely gets more than 160 million unique visitors to its platform each month. And more importantly, it is the gateway for gathering information, read reviews, and watch trailers from not only Hollywood, but from across the world. IMDB’s database and large group of regular users, represents a major organic marketing medium for Amazon.
Newer licensing deals
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has large amounts of data from its transactional video offerings as well as through the DVD retailing business which has enabled the company to understand and choose what types of video content consumers want to watch. Video streaming rival, Netflix used the data from its massive subscriber base to license content as well as decide what type of original content it will commission.
Amazon has been continuously expanding selection for its Prime Instant Video as the company signed new licensing deals with NBCUniversal, CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), FX, PBS, Scripps Networks Interactive, A+E Networks. The addition of these popular shows to Amazon’s content library will enhance its transactional business under Amazon Instant Video which now has more than 150,000 titles. In addition, it also enhances the company’s value proposition to end users for the Amazon Prime subscription which now has more than 40,000 movies and TV episodes for Prime members to stream on.
