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Amazon, Viacom Announce Prime Instant Video Streaming Deal

Amazon Makes Huge Announcement
By 

Technology reporter, The Huffington Post

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The streaming video wars just got a little more intense.

Amazon announced on Tuesday that it has inked a multi-year deal with Viacom to bring thousands of television shows and hundreds of movie titles to Amazon Prime Instant Video, the streaming service that’s part of the online retail giant’s Amazon Prime offering.

The shows include children’s programming from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., like "Dora The Explorer," "Little Bear," "Blue's Clues," "The Backyardigans" and "The Fresh Beat Band," and shows from Comedy Central, like "Key and Peele" and "Workaholics." The new shows are not available on Hulu Plus and Netflix, Amazon's biggest rivals in streaming video.

Some of these titles, like "Dora the Explorer," were until recently available on Netflix, but the deal between Netflix and Viacom expired last month, according to Yahoo!.

Amazon did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. A source close to the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that it's the largest amount of money Amazon has spent on a deal for Prime content and that more than 4,000 TV shows are included in the Viacom package.

Amazon now has more than 41,000 titles available for streaming on Prime Instant Video. The deal is an expansion of a smaller agreement that Amazon and Viacom reached last year.

Streaming services Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon are in a three-way tug of war to sign up new subscribers, as consumers increasingly stream more and more video content on their phones, tablets and connected TVs using on-demand services.

To this end, all three companies are touting original and exclusive content available only to subscribers. Netflix has originals like "House of Cards," the $100 million political thriller starring Kevin Spacey, and the fourth season of "Arrested Development," and plans to increase its investment in original programing. Hulu Plus recently announced premiere dates for its summer lineup of original programming, including the drama "East Los High" and the Seth Meyers' produced superhero show "The Awesomes."

Amazon, for its part, announced last week that it's creating five original TV series, including a political comedy with John Goodman.

When it comes to subscribers, Netflix, which in the U.S. charges $7.99 per month, is the market leader, with 36 million paying subscribers worldwide. Hulu announced in April that Hulu Plus, which costs $7.99 per month, has four million subscribers. Although Amazon doesn’t share how many Prime members it has, the investment research firm Morningstar estimates the number to be around 10 million. Amazon Prime, which also includes free two-day shipping on millions of products as well as access to Amazon's library of ebooks, costs $79 for an annual subscription.

But unlike Hulu Plus and Netlfix, Amazon wants more than just members' subscription fees and eyeballs. Morningstar found in its research that Prime members are Amazon's best customers: They buy more expensive products and they spend twice as much annually as non-members.

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Before You Go

Netflix Tips And Tricks
Don't Watch A Movie Without Rating It (01 of04)
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When you finish a show or movie on Netflix, the site requests that you give it between one and five stars, based on how much you enjoyed it. You're not being asked to rate that content for kicks, or so that you can later reminisce about how much you liked a certain film: Rather, Netflix has spent many years improving its recommendation engine, even offering a $1 million prize for anyone who could up the accuracy of Netflix recommendations by 10 percent.At this point, the Netflix recommendation engine is pretty darn accurate -- it takes into account your own ratings as well as the viewing habits of those similar to you. Basically, the more films you rate, the more you're likely to enjoy a Netflix recommendation. If you constantly find yourself frustrated that there's nothing on Netflix, take a half hour or so and knock out a few hundred ratings on the "Taste Profile" section of the site, and make sure you've filled in your genre preferences, too.Finally, if Netflix persists in recommending a title that you're just never going to watch -- for me, that would be "The Lincoln Lawyer" -- remember that you can click on the "Not Interested" button on any film's homepage and it will disappear from your recommendations page while simultaneously smartening up your future recs.(For an in-depth look at the Netflix recommendation engine, and how it works, I recommend this post on Netflix's official blog.) (credit:Netflix.com)
Don't Fly Blind (02 of04)
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Leaning on Netflix's recommendations alone ensures that you'll discover some good flicks; if you're really committed to shaking all the leaves from the tree, however, you're going to need some backup artillery. There are several excellent extensions that you can add to your favorite browser to augment your Netflix experience and increase your chances of sniffing out a great new film.An extension like "Rotten Netflix," for example, inserts little Rotten Tomatoes scores beneath every movie poster on the website, so that you can instantly know how a movie fared with critics. Similarly, the "IMFlixDB" extension displays a movie's IMDB ranking on a white bar above the Netflix homepage and gives you quick access to that film's information page. The ever-prodigious members at Reddit use the wisdom of crowds, meanwhile, to constantly vote up streaming movies that you might otherwise miss. It's a super-active community with consistently high-quality recommendations: Check it out here. (credit:TomatoFlix)
Don't Let A Film Disappear (03 of04)
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Another Netflix specialty website is InstantWatcher, a clean website that allows for easier movie search than you'll find on the Netflix homepage. And while many outlets toast InstantWatcher for its quick and robust search functionality, we like it because it also lists the notable films that will disappear from Netflix Instant soon. There's even a Twitter feed that does nothing but tweet out the names of soon-to-be-expired Netflix movies.There is no worse feeling, in the whole entire world, than sitting down to watch a movie you've had in your Netflix queue only to discover that the movie has disappeared. Don't let it happen to you again. (credit:InstantWatcher.com)
Don't Be Afraid To Quit (04 of04)
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One of the really nice things about a Netflix subscription is that you pay month-by-month; it's not like a cell phone contract where you're locked in for two years and you have to pay an exorbitant fee if you want to get out early or cancel service. With Netflix, you can quit for one month and come back the next: Netflix will save your queue and ratings for up to two years so that if you do come back, you don't really have to start over.So, if you're taking a vacation, or studying for the LSATs, or going to prison, just cancel your account and save yourself the $8 for as long as you need. Or, if you are one of our Olympian Netflix bashers from above, go ahead and try life without the 'Flix for a month or two and see how you do. Your account information will be waiting for you when (or if) you return; and, hey, if you do, now you have plenty of new ways to find the excellent movies and TV shows you might have missed while in exile. (credit:Netflix.com)
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