Amazon Increasing Original Program Budget to Compete With Netflix
As with the premium cable channel market, original programming has become a key differentiator for subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. Netflix has been the most prominent in this area, but Amazon is close behind. In an interview with CNBC, Jay Marine, vice president of Amazon Instant Video in Europe, said that his company will "double down" on its original programming investment in order to complete with Netflix and other services.
"We're going to continue to double down in that area, invest more to bring our customers worldwide more originals, more great TV series that they have never been able to see before," Marine told CNBC. "The reality is there's lots of places to get videos, it's a very competitive market, we need to provide something different."
Amazon has already invested a fair amount in original programming, with a $1.3 billion spend in 2014. It's biggest success has been Transparent, which won two Golden Globes and a Directors Guild of America award. It was the first series from an SVOD service to win a Golden Globe.
In January, Amazon announced that Woody Allen will write and direct a series for Amazon Prime. This will be the first time Allen has created a series. It's expected to premiere in 2016.
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