Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)’s Kidding Around With Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) used to be able to brag about how so much of the content available on rival streaming smorgasbords was redundant to its wider catalog, but Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is doing a pretty good job of lining up content that video fans can’t find on Netflix.

Amazon announced a multiyear deal with Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) yesterday that will bring SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer, and several other beloved properties that were removed from Netflix’s streaming library late last month.

In short, there are plenty of things that Amazon’s Prime Instant Video subscribers can stream that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) users no longer can.

– The new Viacom deal covers 3,900 episodes across 250 seasons from Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central shows.
– Later this year, Amazon will begin offering full seasons for five pilots that its users selected last month.
– Downton Abbey is a pretty big deal, and Netflix will no longer have it available for streaming starting next month. Amazon will have the popular BBC series.

There are plenty of gems in the MTV and Comedy Central vaults, but the real prizes here will be the kids programming.

Netflix is so fond of its children’s content that it has a specific interface for kids to use that only accesses its kid-friendly catalog entries. Fans of Rugrats, The Backyardigans, and Blue’s Clues may beg to differ now that those shows are only available on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) through this expanded Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) deal.

This doesn’t mean that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) investors need to worry. It’s been preparing for last month’s departure of Nick and Nick Jr. programming. Back in February it struck a deal with Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) to create the first Netflix original series for children. Turbo: F.A.S.T. will arrive in December, and it will probably be more magnetic than all three of Amazon’s kid pilots combined. The show is based on the Turbo movie — about a power-blessed racing snail — that hits theaters next month.