Hwei Loke.
Amazon Prime Video is planning to move beyond being a content producer and is positioning itself as a total entertainment hub for streaming, rentals and subscriptions.
Prime Video's ANZ head, Hwei Loke, said the move is driven by the fragmentation of services in market, resulting in audiences sometimes not knowing where to go for certain TV shows, movies or sports.
“What we saw was that there's an opportunity here for us to calm this content chaos, to present a one-stop shop offering to consumers where they can come in and stream from Prime Video or watch the free content that we have already included as part of the service,” she said.
“They can also add on other subscriptions to things like Paramount Plus, Hayu, BeIN or Britbox and it's all integrated seamlessly into the one platform, so you don't have to even toggle between your services - it's all the same interface.”
With 200 million subscribers worldwide, it isn’t just global content like season three of Reacher or movies like You’re Cordially Invited that Amazon is focused on, however – there’s also an increased concentration on local offerings.
Loke said what Australians want is to see compelling, diverse stories that reflect them.
“Growing up in Australia as an Asian Australian, I never saw anybody who looked like me on TV, but these days, what we aim to endeavour to present is a compelling offering that tells diverse stories that represents diverse people,” she told AdNews.
“An example of that is earlier this year, we had a movie called Five Blind Dates, which had an all Asian-Australian cast. It's exciting to be able to present that to people. Deadlock was another great example - we saw such a tremendous response from this Tasmania crime noir series with such intrinsically Australian comedy in it, but what's interesting is that those things also resonate on a global scale too.
“At the end of the day, consumers want to be entertained, whether it's through emotionally connecting with comedy, the action of sport, the curiosity of unscripted or this escapism through worlds like Lord of the Rings.”
That sport offering - which already includes exclusive live broadcast rights in Australia for ICC cricket - is now set to also comprise the NBA, with an 11-year deal recently signed that will see the streamer broadcast 66 games a season, plus in-season tournaments and playoff games, starting in the 2025-2026 season.
Loke said that sports are an “interesting proposition” for Prime Video and the platform is always open to signing deals with different sporting codes.
“It's really about what the consumer wants - it's definitely not a no go for us [in terms of bringing more sports to the platform] and we will continue to explore options that come to us,” she said.
The market has also responded well to the introduction of ads onto the platform, with the VP of Amazon Ads International recently telling AdNews that the signals from the market are “really, really positive”.
Looking ahead, Prime Video is launching the Australian version of The Office tomorrow, before fellow local productions of The Narrow Road to the Deep North miniseries starring Jacob Elordi and Top End Bub, a follow-on from the Top End Wedding movie, arrive next year.
“We're going to have three ICC live cricket tournaments; Championships Trophy kicking off in February, World Test Championship in June; and Women's World Cup in September, and then at the end of the year comes NBA,” Loke said.
“We will also be continuing to partner with our tier one channel partners - Paramount will have an exciting lineup of content integrated into the Prime Video platform and Apple TV is also announced to come on too as a channel partner.
“We don't have a specific date [for Apple] yet, but that's going to be a great offering to our consumers.”
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