Amazon is apparently upping the ante against video streaming leader Netflix.
Planning to release 30 original movies every year and having splurged a record $47 million for the rights to stream Sundance Film Festival’s five independent films, Amazon seems gung-ho on beefing up content and boosting subscriber growth for its video streaming portal Prime.
Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke, who joined the company in May, indicated (in an interview to The Hollywood Reporter) that expanding Prime membership and attracting new members were among her primary goals for the streaming platform. Amazon is estimated to have spent $5 billion on video content in 2018, compared to $4 billion it spent in 2017. Netflix spent an estimated $8 billion on content in 2018.
It is not just Amazon that is gearing to give Netflix increased competition. Apple Inc. has reportedly invested more than $1 billion into producing original content this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The iPhone maker is increasingly focusing on its services businesses, and its TV streaming service could be a key piece of that strategy. Apple is expecting to increase the number of paid subscribers for its streaming platform to 500 million by 2020, up from the current 360 million. On the other hand, Disney is set to launch its own online streaming service Disney+ in 2019.