Prime Now, Fire TV, and Amazon Video Direct

Amazon continues to expand at an exponential rate. In the first quarter if 2016, their operating income was $1.1 billion in the first quarter, compared with $255 million in first quarter 2015. That is almost an increase of four times the income they brought in a year prior.

The tech company started off in 1994 providing an option for online shopping. Over the past twenty years, the company has begun to work with cloud computing, retail, delivery, consumer electronics, streaming original content and additional items on AmazonBasics.

In an era of disruption, Amazon took the lead in online shopping. They currently hold the lead for largest data storage, and cloud computing. Now in 2016, they are putting their revenue back into their company by expanding services and products.

Amazon Restaurants

The company has announced today that Amazon Restaurants in Dallas will provide a one-hour delivery service. The following restaurants in Dallas will be working with Amazon: Blue Goose Cantina, Deep Sushi, Ellen’s Southern Kitchen, Fireside Pies, Greenville Avenue Pizza Company, Grub Burger Bar, Terilli’s Restaurant and Bar, and many more.

“We are excited to offer Prime members in Dallas free one-hour delivery from some of the city’s best local restaurants,” said Gus Lopez, general manager, Amazon Restaurants. “Whether you are looking to dine at home or need dinner delivered to the office, Amazon Restaurants on Prime Now offers customers a broad selection of cuisines with a guarantee that customers will pay the same price with Prime Now as they do at the restaurant.”

Amazon Restaurants in New York City will also be providing delivery service to 34 locations across Manhattan. Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, Burger Joint, ilili, John’s of Bleecker Street, Junior’s Restaurant & Cheesecake, Le Pain Quotidien, Momofuku Milk Bar, Num Pang, Sarabeth’s Tribeca and many more restaurants are working with Amazon in New York.

Amazon Video Direct

Amazon Video Direct is a new service that connects customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Japan now have access to new movies, TV shows, docu-series and music videos from content creators.

Amazon is taking on YouTube and Vimeo’s user-generated content platform by utilizing their cloud computing service. Independent producers can submit their tax information, and begin to collect revenue for their original content. I just setup an account, and it took less than 10 minutes. One user has noted that it has been difficult to upload content to Amazon Direct Video in comparison to YouTube. Hopefully they can iron out the kinks as soon as possible.

Producers can upload standalone videos, episodic and subscription-based content. After reviewing the paperwork, I suggest using content specifically for Amazon. I believe that YouTube (with over 1 billion users) has copyright over my past content, and I don’t plan to re-upload it to Amazon. My goal is to create specific videos for niche audiences on Amazon (with over 40 million users).

Amazon Ups Streaming Video Battle With Netflix

“Amazon Video Direct helps us reach fans of our beloved preschool brands, including classic Thomas & Friends, Barney & Friends, Angelina Ballerina, Fireman Sam and Pingu, and get the content in front of Prime members faster than ever and into new territories,” said Andrea Carpenter, Senior Director, Global Content Marketing and Distribution, Mattel. “The upload and publishing process is easy and fast, and we can directly monitor our streaming performance through our online dashboard.”

Specific benefits of Amazon Video Direct include:

  • Access to Amazon’s most engaged streaming audience—video providers can distribute their content directly to tens of millions of Prime members and earn royalties based on minutes streamed.
  • Choice of how to share titles—video providers can utilize the different options Amazon Video uses to share content to customers.
  • Expanded customer reach—video providers can choose to make their titles available in any country where Amazon Video is available—the United States, Germany, Austria, United Kingdom and Japan; with support for all the devices Amazon Video is available on—Fire TV, Fire and other iOS and Android tablets, connected TVs, game consoles, iOS and Android phones, and laptops.
  • Insightful performance metrics—video providers are given performance metrics, such as number of minutes a title was streamed, projected revenue, payment history, or number of subscribers, so they can optimize the way they offer and promote content to customers; video providers have full control and the flexibility to make changes based on these metrics.