Amazon Prime wants more live sport, fewer films and series
Fewer in-house productions, but sports broadcasts instead: According to a US report, Prime is undergoing a change in strategy.
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For the video part of its "Amazon Prime" subscription, the online giant apparently wants to position itself much differently in the long term than before. Instead of more in-house productions of films and series, the company wants to focus more on live sport. In particular, Amazon wants to benefit from advertising tailored to individual subscribers (targeted advertising).
This is according to a report by The Information, quoted by Reuters. According to the report, Amazon has been planning this for some time. At a strategy meeting in 2022, it was decided to shift funds away from films and series and towards more live sports. Since then, Amazon is said to have spent less on previous content, according to The Information, eight producers who have worked or are currently working with Amazon. The medium claims to have heard from two sources at Amazon itself that CEO Andy Jassy wants to make the Prime division profitable in 2025.
3 billion for sports per year
In 2024, the total budget for in-house productions is said to have amounted to 7 billion US dollars. Without specifying the time period, the report states that Amazon has so far invested USD 3 billion annually in the rights for sports broadcasts, including games from the NFL football league and NBA basketball league. Amazon already participated in a deal with the NBA in mid-2024, which secured the rights to NBA games for the streaming service together with Disney and NBC Universal for eleven years. Total volume: 77 billion US dollars.
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In Germany, Amazon's interest in sports broadcasts has so far been particularly noticeable due to the fact that the company regularly shows live Champions League soccer matches. In the current 2024/2025 season, it is showing 17 matches, and Amazon still holds some of the CL rights for the coming season.
Internationally, Amazon Prime's current efforts in this cut-throat competition are in line with its biggest competitor Netflix, which has also developed a greater appetite for revenue from live sport. This also became apparent in Germany with a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in November 2024; in the USA, Netflix has also been a player in this area for some time with broadcasts of the WWE wrestling league and NFL Christmas games.
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