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Tag: Amazon

  • Netflix loads up on kids shows yet again with Scholastic deal

    Netflix loads up on kids shows yet again with Scholastic deal

    MUMBAI: Netflix has been positioning itself as an online babysitter of sorts with a slew of deals for children’s content, thus it has sanctioned even more episodes of the kids’ genre.

     

    The streaming-video service said it has expanded an agreement with Scholastic Media, an arm of publisher Scholastic, to offer more of its TV series and video content, such as the shows based on the tween babysitting series, The Magic School Bus and Goosebumps. Most of the new content is available to Netflix members in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Latin America.

     

    Both Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service have been buying content for children. The idea is twofold: Go after a type of programming that – after sports – can be the most decisive sway factor when a consumer is choosing what entertainment to pay for. Then get children cozy with the format and style of internet-delivered content to create a new generation of subscribers.

     

    Netflix’s Scholastic deal marks the first time many of the episodes have been available in the streaming format, and Netflix has an exclusive hold on select programs like The Magic School Bus. However, most of the content is years old.

     

    “When we first added ‘The Magic School Bus’ and ‘Goosebumps’ for our members in the US and Canada earlier this summer we knew they would perform well, but after seeing just how popular they were we decided to expand our relationship with Scholastic and bring these great shows to more of our markets,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a release.

     

    Three of the first five programs Amazon will produce as part of its original content push are children’s programs, and last month the company ordered up kids’ content solely for its next round of five pilots.

     

    Netflix is also working to fill a kids’ content void. The site declined high-demand Nickelodeon content earlier this year because parent Viacom wanted to bundle it together with less popular programs in a hulking deal. Amazon later snatched up the forsaken Viacom content.

     

    The latest deal with Scholastic however doesn’t include video content related to Scholastic’s most blockbuster brand, the Harry Potter series.

  • CBS-TWC in a tiff over digital services

    CBS-TWC in a tiff over digital services

    MUMBAI: The blackout dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable has shifted from the TV set to the tablet.

    In their latest heated exchange, TWC claims that CBS wants to charge higher fees while shortchanging it on digital programming rights that it “has provided to others.”

    CBS contends that the cable-TV outfit is aiming to get digital rights for free or inhibit licensing deals with newer online rivals like Netflix and Amazon.

    The battle between the two companies, which has left CBS-owned TV stations dark in New York and other cities, underscores how the demand for digital rights, including the ability to watch shows on tablets and other mobile devices, is overshadowing the traditional cable bundle.

    On Monday, TWC honcho Glenn Britt offered to end the five-day blackout and pay a higher rate – $2 a month per subscriber, up from $1 now – in exchange for video-on-demand and digital rights to CBS and Showtime programming under the terms of their old contract.

    In response, CBS head Les Moonves argued that the terms of the 2008 deal no longer apply.

    “Those terms and conditions, better known as rights, were established in 2008,” Moonves wrote in his rebuttal. “That was before the introduction of the iPad. Netflix was still doing little but mailing out DVDs. Amazon was known simply for selling books.”

    Moonves wants to protect future digital revenue and doesn’t want TWC limiting his ability to sell shows such as The Big Bang Theory to whomever he sees fit.

    For its part, TWC wants to protect its turf. It doesn’t want CBS giving Amazon preferential treatment to air shows such as miniseries Under the Dome if it’s paying huge fees to carry CBS, according to those familiar with the talks.

    As one cable executive told The Post, “The program guys want all the Amazon revenue to be incremental, and the cable guys are saying we’re not doing that anymore. We want to compete and offer the same experience.”

  • Amazon launches fine art marketplace

    Amazon launches fine art marketplace

    MUMBAI: The online retail giant that peddles everything from e-readers to UFO detectors is looking to change that and make fine art more accessible for everyone.

     

    Amazon on Tuesday announced the launch of Amazon Art, an online marketplace that features more than 40,000 worlds of fine art from more than 150 galleries and dealers. At launch, Amazon Art features artworks from more than 4,500 artists. Amazon said it is one of the largest online collections of original and limited edition artwork for purchase from galleries and dealers.

     

    “We are excited to bring one of the largest selections of fine art direct from galleries to our customers. Amazon Art gives galleries a way to bring their passion and expertise about the artists they represent to our millions of customers. We’re thrilled to bring the excitement and emotional connection of art to our customers,” Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Faricy said in a statement.

     

    Like other Amazon Web properties, the new fine art marketplace features discovery tools to help you find pieces you might like, and detailed information about the works of art. You can search by using filters such as subject, style, color, size, price, and gallery.

     

    The marketplace includes art from galleries of all sizes in the US, UK, the Netherlands, and Canada, including Paddle8 in New York, Holden Luntz in Miami, McLoughlin Gallery and Modernbook in San Francisco and Catherine Person Gallery in Seattle.

     

    The store offers a little something for everyone, with pieces ranging from folk art to impressionism to modern art. Prices vary, with photographs starting at under $200 alongside iconic works from artists like Norman Rockwell, including the American master’s “Willie Gillis: Package from Home” available for a cool $4.85 million. Other available pieces include Andy Warhol’s “Sachiko” for $45,000 and Claude Monet’s “L’Enfant a la tasse, portrait de Jean Monet” for $1.45 million.

  • Washington post sold off to Amazon CEO for $250mn

    Washington post sold off to Amazon CEO for $250mn

    MUMBAI: The iconic American newspaper has shifted hands. An astounding $250mn in cash was paid by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, to buy the newspaper from the Graham family. The newspaper clarified that it will not be owned by Amazon in any way but is being paid for by Bezos from his own account.

     

    Bezos is worth $25.2billion. The Washington Post’s online and print editions, the daily free paper Express, weekly Spanish newspaper El Tiempo Latino, the Gazette community newspapers in Maryland and some specialty publications are included in the sale. The Slate website however isn’t included.

     

    According to a website, the newspaper will also get a fresh name, putting an end to an era of good journalism, including the infamous Watergate Scandal. The newspaper had been reporting losses for the seventh year in a row.

     

    Bezos has promised stability of the paper to the employees and also said that he won’t be running the day to day business of the paper. The sale process will be completed in the next 60 days.

     

    Recently, another iconic newspaper, The Boston Globe was sold to the owner of the baseball team Boston Red Sox, John W. Henry for $70mn.

  • Eros Now brings Ek Thi Daayan online

    Eros Now brings Ek Thi Daayan online

    MUMBAI: Ek Thi Daayan starring Emraan Hashmi, Huma Qureshi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kalki Koechlin which released in April, this year, has been released online on Eros Now.

     

    With apps available for Android, Apple & Amazon, Eros Now ensures that its subscribers have easy and straightforward access to the online platform, along with top quality video as well as English subtitles for international audience.

     

    Ek Thi Daayan is about a childhood witch revisiting the protagonist, Emraan Hashmi. Hashmi is a renowned professional magician. While he performs his tricks, Qureshi, monitors his shows on close circuit. The film did moderately well at the box-office domestically.

     

    All users need to do is subscribe to www.erosnow.com, and enter the world of uninterrupted entertainment.

  • Amazon introduces Amazon Associates Program in India

    Amazon introduces Amazon Associates Program in India

    BENGALURU: Amazon.in today unveiled the Amazon Associates program (AAP) in India. AAP is a marketing program that lets online publishers of all sizes effectively monetise their content by advertising contextually relevant products and referring visitors to Amazon.in.

    Publishers can select from over 17 million books, tens of thousands of DVDs and Audio CDs, thousands of genuine items in consumer electronics, and the entire Kindle range of devices. Amazon says that AAP is free to join and is an easy and effective way to improve experience for visitors and make money at the same time.

    Amazon Associates provides a cost-per-action advertising model where any associate ranging from large and small businesses to bloggers, authors, nonprofits, personal home pages and more, can easily create a link to a contextually relevant product from the Amazon.in catalog.

    Associates earn a percentage-based referral fee when customers click through and make a purchase on Amazon.in. The commission extends to all products the visitor buys and not just the specific product that was advertised.

    As part of an introductory offer, Amazon is launching AAP with commission rates ranging from five per cent for consumer electronics to 10 per cent in all other categories, including books, movies and all Kindle devices.

    Explaining the benefits, Amazon India VP and country manager Amit Agarwal said, “Millions of online websites, small and big, around the world showcase relevant Amazon products and earn high commissions. It is a win-win proposition, your visitors see contextually relevant products and you have a new source of income. Associates in India will have access to the same tools and the trustworthy tracking and reporting that millions of associates worldwide have enjoyed over the last 17 years.”

    Website owners who sign on for the Associates program also get access to Associates Central, a dedicated Associates portal where associates have the option to build links, view traffic and earnings reports, and read about the latest news and opportunities available through the program.

    “We are happy to partner with Amazon via Amazon Associates program” said Quickr CEO Pranay Chulet, “India‘s leading on line platform to buy and sell goods. “We are seeing good results, and are pleased with the program‘s transparency on payments and reporting. We look forward to further deepening our relationship in the days to come.”

    Associates Central also offers access to a library of convenient and effective widgets, linking tools including text links and rich banners that make this very easy to use for individual and small publishers. Associates also have access to the ‘Associates Site Stripe‘ – the quickest and easiest way to link to any page on Amazon. The Site Stripe lets signed in Associates build links as they browse the Amazon.in website.

    Associates with development resources can also use the Product Advertising API and XML data feeds to seamlessly integrate Amazon‘s rich catalog with their content.

  • Amazon is gung-ho for digital music giveaway

    Amazon is gung-ho for digital music giveaway

    MUMBAI: Online retailer Amazon has stepped up the battle for music sales by announcing it will give away digital versions when customers buy CDs and vinyl records – and they will be backdated for any past purchases.

    The free MP3 service, called AutoRip, will enable music fans to have instant access to music they have bought – several days before their purchases arrive in the post.

    The company has already lined up in excess of 350,000 albums for AutoRip with more to be added, and said there will be no knock-on effect on prices.

    Tracks will be added to their AmazonCloud Player account and can be either streamed or downloaded to devices such as iPhones, iPads, Kindles and smartphones.

    AutoRip – which gives consumers their purchases in two formats – will be seen as a new weapon in the fight for dominance in the music sector against rivals such as iTunes which specialises in only digital versions.

    The Amazon site will show whether AutoRip versions are available when consumers check out information about potential purchases, although it will not work if items were bought as gifts for other people. And it does not apply to items bought from private sellers in the Amazon Marketplace – only those bought directly from Amazon.

    Latest figures for the UK market show Amazon became the leading music retailer in 2012, accounting for 25.6 per cent of expenditure (15.3 per cent for home delivery and 10.3 per cent downloads) and taking over from troubled HMV, which had been in front the previous year.

    But iTunes is way out in front for digital sales, and represents 22.5 per cent of the entire music market – up from 17.9 per cent the previous year – according to data from Kantar Worldpanel, which is used by the British Phonographic Industry. Both companies will be keen to push up their share, particularly after HMV went into administration earlier this year and is now operating on a smaller scale after formerly being the market leader for physical sales.

    Amazon‘s AutoRip will be backdated to purchases of CDs, vinyl or cassettes since its music store was established in 1999, if a digital version is available.

  • Apple has a 75% share in digital music globally

    Apple has a 75% share in digital music globally

    MUMBAI: A lot of places cater to digital music, but all of them are minions to iTunes.

    Dediu, incorporating new numbers released from Apple yesterday, pegs iTunes music spending at $6.9 billion a year. Peoples, riffing off numbers provided by the music industry‘s international trade group, pegs total consumer spending on digital music at about $9.3 billion a year.

    Apple owns about 75 per cent of the digital music market; leaving the rest for a group that includes subscription services like Pandora, Deezer, Rhapsody and assorted retailers like Amazon.

    That domination shows you why the music labels are still very eager to see anyone and everyone compete with Apple, as long as they can pay up for advances/royalties.

    Conversely, the fact that Apple no longer has the digital music market entirely to itself, as it used to at the beginning of the iPad era, shows why Apple is watching the advance of competitors like Spotify with a wary eye.

    Apple doesn‘t worry about making money from digital music, but it does benefit from music‘s lock-in effects. Or at least it used to. The more that platform-agnostic rivals like Spotify grow, the weaker that lock gets is what experts view says.

  • Amazon, Viacom announce multi-year video licensing agreement

    Amazon, Viacom announce multi-year video licensing agreement

    MUMBAI: Online retail major Amazon.com and US media conglomerate Viacom have announced an expanded multi-year, multi-national digital video licensing agreement to bring hundreds of TV shows and thousands of TV episodes from Viacom to Prime Instant Video.

    This deal includes a collection of TV shows that customers won‘t find on any other digital video subscription service. Prime members will now have unlimited instant streaming access to popular kids programming such as ‘Bubble Guppies‘, ‘The Backyardigans‘, ‘Team Umizoomi‘, ‘Blue‘s Clues‘ and ‘Victorious‘, along with shows from MTV and Comedy Central like ‘Awkward‘, ‘Tosh.0‘ and ‘Workaholics‘. Prime members will also have access to future episodes of ‘Dora the Explorer‘, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘, ‘Fairly Odd Parents‘ and ‘Fresh Beat Band‘. Lovefilm customers in the UK and Germany will get some of the same shows later this summer.

    Select shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. will be available in Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, a service built just for kids that gives them the freedom to explore books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows, while providing parents with the tools they need to manage their kids‘ screen time.

    Amazon VP of digital video and music Bill Carr said, “Kids‘ shows are one of the most watched TV genres on Prime Instant Video. And this expanded deal will now bring customers the largest subscription selection of Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. TV shows online, anywhere. With programs like ‘Dora the Explorer‘, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘, ‘Bubble Guppies‘ and ‘The Backyardigans‘ there are hundreds of great shows for kids and parents to choose from. In addition, we are bringing customers popular shows from MTV and Comedy Central like ‘Key and Peele‘, ‘Workaholics‘, ‘Awkward‘ and ‘Teen Mom 2‘, with the promise of more shows from these networks in the future.”

    Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, “We are thrilled to be extending and deepening our relationship with Amazon. This innovative agreement will provide Prime members with access to even more of our best programming from our major television brands, including many digital video subscription streaming exclusives. Amazon has created a unique, brand-friendly environment for streaming entertainment and consumer products and we are excited to work with Amazon to bring customers shows they love.”

    Prime Instant Video offers more than 41,000 movies and TV episodes for Prime members to stream on Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U, among other connected TVs and devices-all at no additional cost. Also as previously announced, later this month Prime Instant Video will become the exclusive home to PBS series ‘Downton Abbey‘ as well as the CBS summer series ‘Under the Dome‘, with each episode of the latter added just four days after initial broadcast.

  • Amazon expands Appstore availability to 200 countries

    Amazon expands Appstore availability to 200 countries

    MUMBAI: Amazon.com continued the global expansion of its Appstore by announcing that developers can now submit their apps for distribution in nearly 200 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa, South Korea, and even Papua New Guinea and Vatican City.

    These apps will be made available in the coming months when the Amazon Appstore for Android launches internationally for consumers. Registered developers who want international distribution will have their apps automatically made available for download, unless they designate otherwise. This international expansion is the latest in a series of Amazon Appstore for Android launches, which have included the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan.

    “Amazon‘s platform is a complete end-to-end solution for developers wanting to build, market and monetize their apps and games on Kindle Fire and Android devices,” said Amazon Vice President of Apps and Games Mike George.

    “Allowing developers to target distribution of their apps and games in even more international countries is yet another important milestone as we strive to serve consumers and developers globally. Many of our existing developers have localized their apps and games for international consumers, and we look forward to working with new developers that have been waiting to bring their apps to more Amazon customers across the globe.”

    Amazon.com claims that developers throughout the world are experiencing strong monetisation and user engagement through Kindle Fire and the Amazon Appstore.

    The success is being driven by Amazon‘s large customer base and industry-leading e-commerce features like 1-Click purchasing, Amazon‘s APIs for In-App Purchasing (IAP) and A/B Testing, and GameCircle, Amazon‘s gaming experience for Kindle Fire. A recent study of more than 500 games that utilize in-app purchasing on Amazon found that GameCircle-enabled mobile games earned 83 percent more average revenue per user (ARPU) than non-GameCircle games.