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(Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)
(Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)
WhileNetflixsheds subscribersandlays off staff, its rivals are making hay:Disney+is seeingsubscriber numbers rocketandAmazonhas just unveiled its latest huge investment in new shows forPrime Video, too.
I’ll be honest: within the newAmazon PrimeVideo content announcement they had me at The Boys Season 3, which is apparently “the craziest yet” – which is really saying something. But that’s far from all Amazon has to offer in 2022.
Amazon has a host of other new Amazon Originals incoming, too: Fifteen Love, from the producers of the superb Vigil; a true crime series with the working title The Disappearance of Patricia Hall; Three Mothers, a gripping real-life story of unbelievable online events; Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes, in which the England cricket captain talks about his career with award-winning director Sam Mendes; All or Nothing: Arsenal, a history of the club; and many more including a KSI documentary, new comedy shows and specials including a backstage visit with Katherine Ryan; rap drama Jungle; and the epic thriller series The Rig, starring Line of Duty’s Martin Compston.
Oh, and there’s also the billion dollarThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, too. I’m thinkingjust a fewfolks might want to watch that one.
Boom time for British TV
The announcements aren’t just good news for British streamers. They’re good news for British talent too, with Amazon spending substantial sums on production companies to make these programmes. And there’s also a new fund to support British women’s tennis in association with the Lawn Tennis Association to help women and girls to overcome the obstacles that may prevent them from playing competitively: coaching, equipment and environment. We’ll find out more about that later this year.
It’s defintely not good news for everybody, though.Netflixisn’t having a brilliant time right now, like at all: in the aftermath of its much higher than expected subscriber loss – a loss that’s increasingly happening among long-term customers, which is a worrying development– Netflix has been aggressively cutting costs and laying off staff.
Two percent of Netflix’s total workforce has been made redundant, primarily in the US, and sixty to seventy freelancers working on its social media channels have been given the boot too. It’s the second round of cuts in two months. The cuts have been particularly fierce in areas with more diverse staff: as one user put it on Twitter, “Netflix cut all of its diversity departments including Strong Black Lead, Asian American-focused Golden, Latinx-focused Con Todo, and LGBTQ-focused Most.”
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As I’ve written before, Netflix doesn’t have the market to itself as it once did – and its rivals are spendingseriousamounts of money on attracting new sign-ups just as many of us are tightening our belts and deciding whether we need quite so many subscriptions going out of our bank accounts. While cost-cutting may improve Netflix’s bottom line, the only thing that’ll reverse the subscriber loss is making programmes people want to watch at a price they’re happy to pay.
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Today’s best Amazon Prime Video dealsAmazon Prime Video - Free TrialViewatAmazon Prime
Today’s best Amazon Prime Video dealsAmazon Prime Video - Free TrialViewatAmazon Prime
Today’s best Amazon Prime Video deals
Amazon Prime Video - Free TrialViewatAmazon Prime
Amazon Prime Video - Free TrialViewatAmazon Prime
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