Amazon New Ad-Supported Streaming Service Coming Soon
Amazon, the e-commerce giant, is looking to offer a new ad-supported streaming service separate from its already existing Prime Instant Video. Prime Instant comes with the $99 per year Prime membership, for those who frequent Amazon's services. The new streaming service is supposedly for customers who don't really need a Prime membership.
Reports regarding this ad-supported service was apparently reported March earlier this year by the Wall Street Journal but Amazon had denied plans on the service. Sources indicate that Amazon will unveil the service in order to have an edge against Netflix, which then would maybe ultimately tempt users into purchasing Prime memberships.
"The main point is to bring in more users that you can eventually up-sell to Prime, or to get to a broader audience that doesn't want to pay for Prime, in order to increase their video share," sources said.
If Amazon finally puts up the service, it could pose a serious threat to other video-streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.
"If they do an ad-supported service, they will decouple it from Prime and that is a Netflix killer. It won't be $99 a year," says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. The analyst further suggests that Amazon would be undercutting Netflix's $7.99 monthly fee.
"Who wouldn't switch if you were poor or you're a cord cutter?" he added.
Amazon is making a serious move with this service, only recently having secured a deal to stream HBO content such as "Boardwalk Empire," "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," and "True Blood."
