The Battle Is On: Amazon Takes on Netflix with Standalone Video Service
Leading online retailer Amazon is taking on a fellow giant, but this time, the battle is in field of Netflix, which happens to be the biggest name in streaming services. By unveiling a stand-alone video service on Monday, the Seattle-based company is showing how serious it is in trying to take a cut off the lucrative industry while at the same time taking the fight to its fierce rival in its own forte.
Netflix has dominated the industries of subscription-based video-on-demand as well as over-the-top service that does not require cable subscription for the past couple of years. But after realizing there that the market is rapidly increasing in terms of the numbers of consumers in the form of avid subscribers, Amazon finally decided to invest. But before the company made major strides to compete with Netflix this year, another giant company, HBO, joined the bandwagon by launching a direct-to-consumer SVOD service. After HBO, other TV networks followed like Showtime and CBS.
In a report from USA Today, the retail giant will start giving consumers the ability to subscribe to a distinct video service on a standalone basis, while the streaming service will be readily available for every member of Amazon Prime. For the standalone plan, the subscriber will pay $8.99 per month, which obviously is intended to beat Netflix's current offering of $9.99. While there is a cheaper option from Netflix at $7.99 per month, it however does not have HD content.
The latest investment by Amazon shows the budding competition between the two companies, but Netflix is no doubt the one with a more established presence, at least in this industry. It currently airs some of the most popular series in the U.S., including Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, and Daredevil. But more importantly, Amazon will have to come up with a clever way to compete since Netflix currently has a deal with Disney film studio to host their films after they're released in cinemas.
