Hulu has A Day in the Life, Up to Speed, Battleground and four other programs already in store for 2013. Netflix did its thing with Lillyhammer, House of Cards, Hemlock Grove and the highly-anticipated fourth season of Arrested Development. The battle for original content in the US market now welcomes a new soldier: Amazon.
The company announced its next move is to produce original kids and comedy content, and is open to new ideas. There's no doubt about it: the online retail giant doesn't want to be left out of any side of the online business industry.
Yet, the announcement didn't come as a surprise to anyone with a mild understanding of the current industry, since a move like this was to be expected from since the company launched its production division, Amazon Studios, a year and a half ago. The division, created to develop scripts and produce feature films, now has 15 projects in store. And now, it's time to produce TV content. Amazon will then choose one project each month, and those who get chosen will receive US$ 55,000 and up to 5% of ancillary revenues.
Amazon's content is expected to have the highest quality, on par with pay TV series. To develop its comedies, Amazon hired Joe Lewis, who worked with 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central; and for its kids' programming, it hired National Georgaphic Kids' Tara Sorensen.
The new programming will be available exclusively through the company's online TV service, Amazon Instant Video. The online streaming offer is part of Amazon's strategy to promote its online retail business as much as possible.
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