Amazon Prime Video Could Get 24/7 Live TV Soon
There has been a surge in the use of video streaming services, putting the video-on-demand market in the spotlight again. But while it has long had its own VoD platform, Amazon Prime Video's name still lagged behind Netflix and even behind the Disney+ upstart. Now it seems that the e-commerce giant is coming up with a new strategy to get the upper hand, one that ironically bets on one of the most traditional forms of video consumption around, linear TV.
Video-on-demand, which has become synonymous with video streaming, offers the convenience of being able to watch only when you want to or when you are able to. You don't have to stress over missing the airing of your favorite show just because you're stuck in traffic caught or because you have more important life matters to attend to. VoD has also created the culture known as binge-watching that, in turn, has largely been associated with the VoD king Netflix.
Job listings from Amazon, however, suggest that such kind of video consumption, while popular, isn't actually king. Viewing hours, one such listings claims, still weigh in favor of live and scheduled TV programming, the ones that almost run 24/7 whether there's anyone around to watch it (yes, they do still make a sound). Amazon believes that there is definitely a market for that and it will be putting that market right inside its Prime Video subscription service.
This isn't the first time Amazon has played around with live TV programming, though its past forays have mostly been for seasonal events like NFL Thursday Night Football or a small number of news networks streaming to its devices. Sources now claim that Amazon is making a more aggressive push to include a wider variety of programmed content from music to TV shows and even to movies.
This isn't the first time a VoD service has tried to get its hand on live TV content either, with the likes of YouTube TV and Sling TV paving the way. Unfortunately, those have met hurdles with the industry's old licensing practices but Amazon may be planning on getting around that by using the same companies that already provide linear TV to the likes of Roku.