Amazon seems to be planning to release original programming in the near future. According to a job listing on the Amazon site, the company is looking for a “Creative Executive, Comedy” for its Amazon Studios arm. The position is advertised for a “People’s Production Inc.” and may be the initial signs of some original programming from Amazon Studios.
Amazon is following in the footsteps of Netflix, Hulu and YouTube who have all initiated original programming for web screening although Amazon Studios preceded these others in terms of existence. The difference is, however, in the fact that Amazon, unlike Hulu and Netflix, may be preparing for some in-house releases in contrast to what the other streaming companies have done, which is to hire production companies to create the content.
The rise of original programming for web has been on an upward trend with Netflix announcing they would be ditching their DVD distribution business in favour of their streaming arm, which has seen tremendous growth in the last year. Other traditional DVD companies such as Redbox have also jumped into the streaming melee with Redbox announcing its own partnership with mobile carrier and broadband provider Verizon to create a program streaming initiative.
Amazon has been slow to get into the space because of the learning curve it has been on as well as its need to build capacity to provide streaming services. It also should be appreciated that streaming is all about content and at the moment, old hand Netflix has a huge inventory of titles, which Amazon must first try to match if the online retail giant hopes to compete effectively in the streaming arena.
There is however an interesting scenario unfolding when you add the different initiatives Amazon has been rolling out in the recent past. Principal of these has to be their cloud services, the launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire and their recent partnership with Viacom, all of which point to a very deliberate and systematic move into content.
