groveChuck
U-matic Member
Amazon is developing a free, ad-supported complement to its Prime streaming video service, according to people familiar with its plans. The company is talking with TV networks, movie studios and other media companies about providing programming to the service, they say...
Amazon is already expected to spend almost $5 billion on content this year, according to Wall Street analysts. It has moved its Amazon Studios from Santa Monica, California, to the Culver Studios lot in Los Angeles where "Citizen Kane" was filmed; struck deals with people like Robert Kirkman, the creator of "The Walking Dead"; and signed up for a show directed by Seth Rogen. But the new service could simultaneously help build Amazon's sales of advertising and everything else under the sun...
For the ad-supported service, Amazon wants to dive into back catalogs of TV and movie studios, looking to beef up its children's programming, for example, one TV industry insider says. It is also going after lifestyle, travel, cooking and other shows that are a good fit for an e-commerce platform...
Amazon has been slowly building out its ad capabilities, starting to let brands pay for video on their product pages and developing technology to serve ads beyond Amazon.com. But marketers will pay high prices for video ads in entertainment programming—including traditional TV, despite the long-term ratings trends. The question now is whether Amazon, so dominant and disruptive in many other areas, can make a big mark in ad-supported video too.
More:
http://adage.com/article/digital/amazon-developing-a-free-ad-supported-version-prime/311273/
Amazon is already expected to spend almost $5 billion on content this year, according to Wall Street analysts. It has moved its Amazon Studios from Santa Monica, California, to the Culver Studios lot in Los Angeles where "Citizen Kane" was filmed; struck deals with people like Robert Kirkman, the creator of "The Walking Dead"; and signed up for a show directed by Seth Rogen. But the new service could simultaneously help build Amazon's sales of advertising and everything else under the sun...
For the ad-supported service, Amazon wants to dive into back catalogs of TV and movie studios, looking to beef up its children's programming, for example, one TV industry insider says. It is also going after lifestyle, travel, cooking and other shows that are a good fit for an e-commerce platform...
Amazon has been slowly building out its ad capabilities, starting to let brands pay for video on their product pages and developing technology to serve ads beyond Amazon.com. But marketers will pay high prices for video ads in entertainment programming—including traditional TV, despite the long-term ratings trends. The question now is whether Amazon, so dominant and disruptive in many other areas, can make a big mark in ad-supported video too.
More:
http://adage.com/article/digital/amazon-developing-a-free-ad-supported-version-prime/311273/