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Tag: Hulu

  • Disney forms international content group, Rebecca Campbell to lead

    Disney forms international content group, Rebecca Campbell to lead

    Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company is creating a new hub for international content under the direction of international content and operations chairman Rebecca Campbell.

    The company is also making several key executive appointments to its media and entertainment distribution segment under the leadership of its chairman Kareem Daniel.

    Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    In her newly expanded role as international content and operations chairman, Campbell will focus on local and regional content production for Disney’s streaming services, as well as continue overseeing Disney’s international media teams worldwide, reporting directly to The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek.

    “Disney’s direct-to-consumer efforts have progressed at a tremendous pace in just a few short years, and our organisation has continued to grow and evolve in support of our ambitious global streaming strategy,” stated Bob Chapek. “Rebecca has played a vital role in orchestrating our global platform expansion, and I’m excited that she will be leading our new International Content group, bringing her expertise and talent to oversee the growing pipeline of original local and regional content for our streaming services while continuing to lead our international operations. Likewise, with a relentless focus on serving consumers, Kareem has developed an industry-leading team of seasoned executives who are uniquely equipped to take our streaming business into Disney’s next century.”

    Campbell will continue to oversee the company’s teams in the Asia Pacific, EMEA, India and Latin America who manage the company’s international linear channels, regional streaming, local ad sales, and local distribution. “Great content is what drives the success of our streaming services, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work even more closely with the talented creators in our international markets who are producing new stories with local relevance to delight our audiences around the globe,” she said in a statement.

    The international content and operations group will be home to a fourth content-creation engine for the company, alongside the studios’ content, general entertainment content and sports content groups.

    Michael Paull has been promoted to the newly created role of Disney Streaming president with accountability for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+ and will oversee these platforms globally for the media and entertainment distribution segment reporting to Daniel.  

    “From the inception of our DTC business, we have been guided by a single, clear goal—to bring audiences the best entertainment wherever and whenever they choose—and we have continued to build a world-class team to deliver on that promise,” said Kareem Daniel. “Michael Paull has deep experience in the world of streaming and is an accomplished leader with a passion for this business and a proven track record of building and expanding our streaming operations. Bringing Disney’s streaming platforms together under Michael’s expert leadership will allow us to create an even more compelling value proposition for consumers.”

    Joe Earley, who previously served as Disney+ executive vice president marketing and operations, has been named Hulu president and will report to Paull.

    The streaming leadership team will also include a new head of Disney+, who has yet to be named. Russell Wolff continues to serve as head of ESPN+. These roles will also report to Paull.

    “Now that we have established our platforms as category leaders, I’m looking forward to the new challenges ahead as we continue to innovate and scale globally, while delighting consumers with all the incredible entertainment and sports programming coming from our content partners,” said Michael Paull. “I’ve also had the pleasure of working closely with Joe Earley these past few years and can’t imagine a better leader to take the helm of Hulu.”

  • Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    Mumbai: Disney has announced the appointment of Joe Earley as president of streaming service platform – Hulu. He previously served as executive VP of marketing and operations at Disney Plus and is headed to its sister service after joining the media company in 2019.

    Earley succeeds former Hulu chief Kelly Campbell, who left the company in October to become the president of NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

    In the new role at Hulu, Earley will be responsible for building on the service’s brand and will liaise with its various content studios. He will report to Michael Paull, who has been promoted to a new role overseeing Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+ as president of Disney Streaming.

    “I am excited to embark on this new era at Hulu, a streaming pioneer that over the past 15 years has distinguished itself with an unrivaled offering of groundbreaking, award-winning series and films from our talented content partners,” Earley said in a statement. “I have been a longtime Hulu subscriber and fan and have admired the unbridled creativity of the service’s content and culture, and I’m looking forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead, collaborating with our content studios, and tapping into the full power and strength of The Walt Disney Company.”

  • Disney Plus subscriber growth decelerates with 2.1 mn additions in Q4 2021

    Disney Plus subscriber growth decelerates with 2.1 mn additions in Q4 2021

    Mumbai: Disney Plus added 2.1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter 2021 much lower compared to the previous quarter where it added over 12 million subscribers. The streaming service saw subscriber growth in domestic and international markets except in India (Disney Plus Hotstar) where the number of total subscriptions decreased.

    The Walt Disney Company’s total subscriptions for its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business stood at 179 million including Disney Plus at 118.1 million, Hulu at 43.8 million and ESPN+ at 17.1 million subscribers.

    The overall subscriber growth stood at 48 per cent on a year-on-year basis whereas for Disney Plus it was 60 per cent. The Walt Disney Company chief executive officer Bob Chapek affirmed that the company would reach its target of 230-260 million subscribers by 2024 and achieve profitability for its streaming service Disney Plus by then.

    Beginning next year, Disney Plus will be doubling its slate of original content from its tentpole brands including Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and Nat Geo. The company has 340+ local original titles in various stages of development and production and expects its total content expense to be about $ 8 to 9 billion by 2024.

    While the company is not expecting linear subscriber growth on a quarter-on-quarter basis, it does expect to see an increase in subscriptions based on two factors – its expansion into new markets and increasing cadence of content during the third and fourth quarters of the year.

    In two years, Disney Plus expanded across 60 countries in 20 languages. The streaming service expects a further expansion into 50 additional countries by the end of next year and reach a total of 160 countries by 2023. It recently launched in Japan and will launch in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong on 12 November which is also Disney+ Day. It will continue to expand into markets like Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and South Africa in the future.

    The direct-to-consumer business revenues increased by 38 per cent to $4.6 billion. The average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ decreased from $4.52 to $4.12 due to a higher mix of Disney+ Hotstar subscribers in the current quarter compared to the prior year quarter. Disney Plus Hotstar subscribers account for 37 per cent of Disney+ paid subscriber base.

    “As we celebrate the two-year anniversary of Disney Plus, we’re extremely pleased with the success of our streaming business, with 179 million total subscriptions across our DTC portfolio at the end of fiscal 2021 and 60 per cent subscriber growth year-over-year for Disney Plus,” said Bob Chapek. “We continue to manage our DTC business for the long-term, and are confident that our high-quality entertainment and expansion into additional markets worldwide will enable us to further grow our streaming platforms globally.”

  • Disney to phase out Hotstar US operations by 2022: Report

    Disney to phase out Hotstar US operations by 2022: Report

    Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company plans to phase out Hotstar operations in the US by late 2022, according to a report by Deadline.

    All sports-related programming on Hotstar including the Indian Premier League will be streamed on ESPN+ going forward. ESPN+ will acquire all the cricket rights owned by Hotstar to stream in the US. IPL 2021 that resumes on 19 September will be available to US audiences via ESPN+. Other live cricket events including ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will also stream on the service.

    All entertainment-related programming including Hotstar specials and Bollywood films will move to Hulu on a rolling basis. Currently, Hotstar specials like the Indian adaptation of “The Office”, “Hostages”, “Out of Love”. “City of Dreams”, “Live Telecast” and “Ok Computer” and films such as “Dil Bechara” and “The Fault in Our Stars” are available on Hulu.

    Subscribers of Hotstar US who are not subscribers of any other Disney streaming service are eligible to get the Disney bundle including Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ till the end of their Hotstar annual subscription, at no additional charge.  

    The programming migration began on 1 September.

  • Disney+ paid subs hit 103.6 mn, Disney+Hotstar accounts for around $34.5 mn subs

    Disney+ paid subs hit 103.6 mn, Disney+Hotstar accounts for around $34.5 mn subs

    KOLKATA: With a higher-than-ever growth of streaming services in the last year, The Walt Disney Co.’s (Disney) direct-to-consumer venture Disney+ has also grown quickly to surpass 100 million subscribers.

    Although its overall subscriber addition in q2 has fallen short of the Wall Street expectations, Disney+ paid subscribers have reached 103.6 million subscribers. Disney+Hotstar currently has nearly 34.5 million subscribers.

    In the same quarter a year ago, Disney+ had 33.5 million subscribers. Although it has not been able to reach the expected 109 million subscriber base, the growth is indeed fast amid an array of big-ticket rivals. Along with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, a bunch of new entrants HBO Max, Apple TV+ is also betting big on their streaming services.

    “Results at Disney+ were comparable to the prior-year quarter as an increase in subscribers was largely offset by higher programming and production, marketing, and technology costs. The increases in subscribers and costs reflected the ongoing expansion of Disney+ including launches in additional markets,” the earnings press release mentioned.

    Disney+ touched the milestone of 100 million subscribers in early March. It indicates the last month of the quarter has seen faster growth compared to the first two months, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said in the earnings call.

    “Between q1-q2, Disney+Hotstar was the strongest contributor to net subscriber addition and made approximately a third of total Disney+ subscriber base as of the end of q2. However, ARPU at Disney+Hotstar was down significantly compared to Q1 due to lower ad revenue as a result of the timing of the IPL cricket matches and impact of Covid in India,” McCarthy added further.

    In the quarter, Disney+ reported an ARPU of $3.99 falling 29 per cent over the same quarter of last year. The decline in ARPU has been attributed to Disney+Hotstar as overall Disney+ ARPU excluding it was $5.61. However, the average monthly revenue per paid subscribe for Disney’s other streaming services ESPN+ and Hulu grew slightly.  

    Direct-to-Consumer revenues for the quarter increased 59 per cent to $4.0 billion and operating loss decreased from $0.8 billion to $0.3 billion, the company stated. The decrease in operating loss was due to improved results at Hulu, and to a lesser extent, at ESPN+, it added. Overall, the media conglomerate has around 159 million total subscribers across its streaming services as of the end of the q2.

  • Disney’s global streaming moves impress investors

    Disney’s global streaming moves impress investors

    MUMBAI: Financial analysts  and investors who have been backing the Disney stock are grinning ear to ear following Disney’s 10 December Investor Day announcements. Not only has the mouse house beaten the street’s expectations, it has also whipped its own guidance given to investors as far as its streaming service Disney+ is concerned.

    It announced that it had managed to add 13.1 million subscribers between October 2020 and 2 December 2020 to take Disney+’s tally up to 86.8 million subs. The steroidal performance is eye popping as that’s a target it had set for 2024 when it launched in 2019. Yes, the naysayers may say that the gold standard in streaming, Netflix, is about to touch 200 million subs globally. But remember Disney+ reached the 50 million sign up mark within five months of launch; its October 2020 figure was 73.7 million.

    Here’s more: the media & entertainment behemoth said that it has revised it 2024 outlook for the number of subs to 230-260 million from the 60-90 million it had set for that year during its last Investor Day in April 2019. Dsisney+Hotstar would account for 30-40 per cent of that; equating to 69 million-78 million and 92 million-104 million subs for the Indian streamer.

    Here’s even more: it revealed that it would be upping monthly prices by a single US dollar to $7.99 in the US and to €8.99 in Europe come March 2021.

    Sister services such as Hulu and ESPN+ have also performed notably well. The former which was predicted to hit 40-60 million subscribers by FY2024 announced  a figure of 38.6 million, while ESPN+ registered 11.5 million against its FY2024 guidance of 8-12 million. It has revised its guidance for FY2024 to 50-60 million for Hulu, with profitability expected to come to it a year earlier than guided last year. Its Hulu bundled offerings are also surpassing previous projections. Its Hulu+Live TV package which is priced at $64.99 with ads, and $70.99 with no ads has notched up four million subs.

    Ditto in terms of subscribers for ESPN+; the forecast is that it will cross 20-30 million paid subscribers by end FY2024, and be in the black by 2023.

    In all probability, Hulu will stay put as a US domestic service and Disney will extend the Star brand –  the cash cow in India which it got when it acquired 21st century Fox from the Murdochs – globally. Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and Singapore will get to see Star as a tile in the Disney+ offering along with Disney, Pixar, National Geographic, Star Wars and Marvel. A brand new streaming service branded Star+ is to be launched across Latin America in June 2021 with an entertainment show and live sports programming lineup. Pricing has been put at $7.50 standalone and $9 when bundled with Disney+.

    So enthused has the mouse house’s management  been with Disney+’s performance, it has decided to double its projected spend on content from $4.5 billion for 2024 as estimated during its previous investor day in April 2019 to $8-9 billion. It expected its operating losses to peak between 2020-22; but it now predicts that the landmark will be reached in 2021. The profitability horizon has been maintained as FY 2024.

    Collectively, the Disney team has set itself a target of 300-350 million subscriptions by FY 2024. Will that take it ahead of Netflix as a whole at that time?

    In all probability, yes. With limited headroom for growth from 2022, it’s quite likely that the Reed Hastings-headed streamer will have to work hard to rope in subscribers. Even in India — one of its key growth markets — where it has different subscription slabs in order to lure different income strata in Indian society. Estimates are that Netflix in India has single digit million subscribers. Hedge fund Third Point founder Dan Loeb, who has been constantly cheerleading Disney to invest increasingly in Disney+, should have little reason to complain now that the organisation has pivoted itself around streaming.

    The market responded well to Disney’s Investor Day announcement. The stock was trading at a high of $173.96 against the previous day’s close of $154.69.

  • 20th TV & Touchstone merged under Disney TV restructure

    20th TV & Touchstone merged under Disney TV restructure

    MUMBAI: The shake-up in Walt Disney’s upper echelons continues, after the company announced large-scale streamlining of its content creation and distribution into separate and distinct global units earlier this year. Falling in line with CEO Bob Chapek’s vision of ‘strategic reorganisation’ in the wake of the tumult caused by Covid2019, other heads of businesses – namely general entertainment content chairman Peter Rice, and media and entertainment distribution overseen by Kareem Daniels – divvied up responsibilities, shuffled top-rung personnel, consolidated assets, and generally spruced up operations to make the multi-billion dollar enterprise more profitable in these troubled times.

    Last month, Disney-owned ESPN unveiled its own reshuffle of senior leaders, with content executive vice president Connor Schell leaving the company. Reports stated that the sports outlet is expected to reduce its workforce by 500 staffers.

    Now, ahead of Investor Day (scheduled for 10 December), Disney has undertaken another big round of restructuring to further consolidate its content creation across streaming and linear. Walt Disney Television chairman of entertainment Dana Walden has initiated a major reorganisation of the television production and original content businesses under her leadership. This includes Hulu’s longtime SVP content Craig Erwich adding oversight of ABC original content to his purview. He has been named president of Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment.

    He will take over responsibilities held by ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke who, after a successful stint at the network, is taking on a role as president of 20th Television, the combined operation of 20th Television and Touchstone Television. As the cable/streaming-focused studio is being folded into 20th TV, Disney TV Studios has now gone down to two divisions with ABC Studios and ABC Signature merger earlier this year. 20th TV will be run by Burke, and ABC Signature will be headed by president Jonnie Davis. Both Davis and Burke will report to Walden.

    Craig Hunegs will move from his role as president of Disney Television Studios to become Walt Disney Television entertainment president, working alongside Walden across all business units. He will oversee centralised business affairs, production, casting and creative talent development & inclusion teams.

    Touchstone TV (formerly Fox 21) president Bert Salke will bring transition to a multi-year overall producing deal with Disney Television Studios. During his time at the company, Salke looked after development and production at the studio, which included such shows as Homeland, Genius, Queen of the South and The Hot Zone. Together with FX Prods, the studio produced The Americans, Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C and more.

    Former 20th TV president Carolyn Cassidy will stay back at the studio as EVP, development. Touchstone TV’s Jane Francis will also stay put and become EVP – series for 20th TV. Both Francis and Cassidy will report to Burke.

    As part of the restructuring, 20th Animation, currently a division of 20th TV, will have its own unit, run by Marci Proietto. Additionally, Disney TV will launch a production unit for unscripted programming. Both divisions will be overseen by Hunegs.

    Tara Duncan will continue to oversee original programming for Freeform. She and Erwich will continue to report to Walden.

    “This has been an incredibly challenging but successful year. Our television studios produce many of the top-rated shows in the industry. ABC is now the number one entertainment network and the Hulu Originals team launched their most successful slate yet of critically acclaimed, award-winning, high-performing shows. I am proud of our exceptional leadership team and all we have accomplished, but the media landscape is changing and this reorganisation better positions us for the future,” said Walden. “The changes we are announcing today are in service of three goals: rightsizing our organization, streamlining functions across our studios and original content teams, and strengthening our partnerships with the extraordinary creators who call Disney Television Studios their home.”

  • The Walt Disney Co’s Q4 gains: IPL boosts Disney+Hotstar subs

    The Walt Disney Co’s Q4 gains: IPL boosts Disney+Hotstar subs

    KOLKATA: It has been only one year since Disney+ entered the streaming war but the growth has been phenomenal. The streaming service from The Walt Disney Company (Disney) has reached 73.7 million subscribers as of 3 October. Disney+Hotstar has pushed the growth contributing around 25 per cent of the global subscribers which effectively makes for around 19 million subscribers.

    “Disney+ ended Q4 with 73.7 million paid subscribers or an increase of over 16 million subscribers versus Q3. Disney+ Hotstar subscriber additions were the largest contributor to this increase, driven by the start of the delayed IPL season. Disney+ Hotstar subscribers now account for a little over a quarter of our global subscriber base. Disney+ overall ARPU this quarter was $4.52. However, excluding Disney+ Hotstar, it was $5.30,” Disney senior executive vice president and chief financial officer Christine McCarthy said in an earnings call.

    This means that Disney+Hotstar’s ARPU is at about 78 cents or around Rs 58.

    Disney+ entered India coupling with its existing service Hotstar, which the mouse house  took over as a part of its Twenty First  Century Fox acquisition in April. The rebranded service Disney+Hotstar has  signed up around 19 million subscribers in six months which is no small feat, especially in a crowded market like India.

    Originally, Disney planned the launch in March with the beginning of IPL 2020. Unfortunately, the Covid2019 crisis forced the company to change the plan. Although it could not exploit the unparalleled popularity of IPL at its launch, it is reaping the benefits now. Moreover, the timing of launch may have also worked in its favour as the lockdown has massively boosted the OTT ecosystem.

    Disney+Hotstar contributed around 15 per cent of Disney+ overall subscriber base in Q3. The service can grow its base faster as it has expanded its footprint to Indonesia in September. The company also announced its debut in Singapore on 1 November

    The giant media conglomerate is gradually focusing more on direct-to-consumer (DTC) business making up for its late entry in the game. “We are going to continue to ramp up our investment in DTC and we will be heavily tilting the scale from our linear networks over to our DTC business as we see it as a primary catalyst for growth,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek commented.

    Disney’s direct-to-consumer and international segment revenue grew 41 per cent to $4.9 billion in Q4, while segment operating loss declined from $751 million to $580 million, as a result of better results at Hulu and ESPN Plus.

    “The real bright spot has been our direct-to-consumer business, which is key to the future of our company, and on this anniversary of the launch of Disney+ we’re pleased to report that, as of the end of the fourth quarter, the service had more than 73 million paid subscribers – far surpassing our expectations in just its first year,” Chapek said.

  • The Walt Disney Co restructures media & entertainment business globally

    The Walt Disney Co restructures media & entertainment business globally

    MUMBAI: The last two weeks have seen a spate of departures at Disney Star India. It began with the announcement of chairman India and APAC president Uday Shankar exiting the company by end this year. Star Sports boss Gautam Thakar followed quickly, along with another three executives at senior levels. Uday said the entrepreneurial bug had bit him, and Gautam too might go the same way. Disney Star India CEO K. Madhavan quickly found in Sanjog Gupta a replacement for Gautam, but could the departures have something to do with the reorganisation that was announced yesterday by The Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Chapek is a question that needs to be asked.

    Chapek said that Disney’s media and entertainment businesses are being restructured.

    Under the new organisation, Disney’s world-class creative engines will focus on developing and producing original content for the company’s streaming services, as well as for legacy platforms, while distribution and commercialization activities will be centralized into a single, global media and entertainment distribution organisation.

    The new media and entertainment distribution group will be responsible for all monetisation of content—both distribution and ad sales—and will oversee operations ofDisney’s streaming services. It will also have sole P&L accountability for Disney’s media and entertainment businesses.

    The creation of content will be managed in three distinct groups—studios, general entertainment, and sports—headed by current leaders Alan F. Horn and Alan Bergman, Peter Rice, and James Pitaro.

    The media and entertainment distribution group will be headed by Kareem Daniel, formerly president, consumer products, games and publishing. All five leaders will report directly to CEO Bob Chapek. Disney parks, experiences and products will continue to operate under its existing structure, led by chairman Josh D’Amaro, who continues have Chapek as his immediate boss. 

    The reshuffling has led to the direct to consumer business division no longer being managed on a combined basis. Rebecca Campbell, who chairs that as well as the international business, will report to Chapek for the latter piece, while having Daniel as her reporting superior for Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.

    Creative structure of content groups

    Under the new structure, Disney’s  three content groups will be responsible and accountable for producing and delivering content for theatrical, linear and streaming, with the primary focus being its  streaming services:

    Studios: Horn and Bergman will serve as chairmen, studios content, which will focus on creating branded theatrical and episodic content based on Disney’s powerhouse franchises for theatrical exhibition, Disney+ and its  other streaming services. The group will include the content engines of The Walt Disney Studios, including Disney live action and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

    General Entertainment: Rice will serve as chairman, general entertainment content, which will focus on creating general entertainment episodic and original long-form content for Disney’s streaming platforms and its cable and broadcast networks. The group will include the content engines of 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television; ABC News; Disney Channels; Freeform; FX; and National Geographic.

    Sports: Pitaro will serve as chairman, ESPN and sports content, which will focus on ESPN’s live sports programming, as well as sports news and original and non-scripted sports-related content, for the cable channels, ESPN+, and ABC.

    The Distribution group

    The media and entertainment distribution group, led by Daniel, will be responsible for the P&L management and all distribution, operations, sales, advertising, data and technology functions worldwide for Disney’s content engines, and it will also manage its streaming services and domestic television networks’ operations The group will work in close collaboration with the content creation teams on programming and marketing.

    The new structure is effective immediately, and Disney expects to transition to financial reporting under it in the first quarter of fiscal 2021.

    Its virtual investor day is scheduled for 10 December, where it will present further details of its direct-to-consumer strategies.

  • Where Mike Hopkins is taking Amazon Prime Video

    Where Mike Hopkins is taking Amazon Prime Video

    Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios SVP Mike Hopkins is a 30-year vet old in streaming veteran, having overseen the developed of products such as  BTN2GO and Fox Now as head of Fox distribution and later led Hulu on a rapid growth path as its CEO. He spent a short stint at Sony Pictures Television Networks as its chairman before being lured away by Jeff Bezos to lead Prime Video just before the pandemic hit the world.

    Hopkins is quite charged up about the opportunity that lies ahead with Prime Video. Speaking at APOS he said that Amazon has 150 million plus Prime members globally and Prime Video is a key driver of the service.

    Hopkins expressed that growth for Prime Video lies primarily in international territories. “Before I arrived the company had made some really smart investments in serving customers around the world,” he said. “And we intend to double down on that investment over the next couple of years. We will continue to invest in local and global content and that is very critical,”

    Most of the investments are going towards creating originals in 15 of the 200 markets Prime Video is available outside the US. “People in many countries have an affinity to US content,” Hopkins added. “But increasingly customers also want to see stories about them their culture and issues written and produced by people in their countries and played out by actors who look like and speak like them. Our teams have been building a home for talent and attracting the top creators all over the world.”

    The content acquisition teams, Hopkins revealed are also  making smart bets and doubling down on investments in acquiring SVOD content and TVOD catalogues. This apart, Hopkins, stated that Amazon’ sports team has also been inventing and reinventing spots, taking bets in properties and that is going to increase going forward.

    Hopkins went on to add that the second big opportunity for Amazon Prime Video lies in improving customer experience. “We have probably the most complicated business model of the SVoD players, so that makes the customer experience more important for us,” he expressed.

    He revealed that members can look forward to improvements in how they can navigate and use the service over the next year or two. “Customers can rent and buy movies and TV shows and they can also subscribe to  TV channels in many markets,” he highlighted. “Making it easier for them to understand what’s what and how they can get to the content is important and we will prioritise this along with content investments.”

    He explained that he sees Prime Video offering a variety of content to its users, right from the SVOD content to TVOD to channels. “We want to offer them a one-stop-shop for their entertainment needs and (adding) channels is going to be a major focus for us.”

    Hopkins stated the pandemic has not impacted its pipeline of content going forward. “We have about 40 shows in various stages of production,” he said. “We have a very deep library, we have licensed content. We have a lot of originals. We are going to launch the second season of The Voice and several other shows. But what we will see is a slowdown in terms of premieres in the first half of next year. The thinning of these shows will be more than made up by the TVOD content in movies and the channels members can subscribe to.”

    He pointed out that Amazon Prime Video had gone in early into India as an SVOD service  and the way forward is becoming be super aggressive in the market from an originals. “We will have more than a dozen originals in each of the markets we are investing in by next year or so” he revealed. “And India is one of our priority markets.”