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> The deal can be viewed as a doubling down on business strategy that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, articulated at a conference in 2016: “When we win a Golden Globe
by wut42 5y ago
> The deal can be viewed as a doubling down on business strategy that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, articulated at a conference in 2016: “When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes,” he had said, referring to Amazon's diverse business divisions.
This part is a real nugget.
- presty 5y agofor what is worth, Amazon already won a few golden globes: 3 this year https://www.geekwire.com/2021/amazon-takes-3-golden-globes-including-big-borat-win-annual-event-goes-mostly-virtual/ https://www.geekwire.com/2021/amazon-takes-3-golden-globes-i... a few more in the past with Fleabag and others
- wut42 5y agoYeah-- and it's deserved, they are producing good content. The rationale of WHY they are doing good content is... eh.
- rchaud 5y agoIndeed. The acquisition opens up numerous product placement opportunities. I can't wait to watch John Krasinski watching a mission briefing with his mPow 2021 Slim Noise Cancelling Bluetooth USB-C headphones.
- elliekelly 5y agoAnd after having watched that episode of Jack Ryan those exact headphones will conveniently be “suggested” to you as you browse Amazon.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoThat’s a funny example considering mPow got banned from Amazon a few days ago for manipulating reviews.
- amelius 5y agoI guess it would be practically impossible to remove the item from the video, though. Or will Amazon shoot the scene multiple times, with different items?
- lotsofpulp 5y agoI assume that can be handled trivially with today’s video editing capabilities.
- deegles 5y agoAlready happening: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56758376 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56758376
- amelius 5y agoWhat if Krasinski wears his Bluetooth headphones through the entire episode?
- lotsofpulp 5y agoI’m not familiar with the video editing field. But it seems like a product that can edit the logos/item to be advertised for various markets could be valuable. So person wears an unbranded product or no product even, and then post production adds whatever logos or products it needs to for various markets.
- amelius 5y agoOr getting a close-up of his shoes, for that matter.
- hashtag-til 5y agoThis needs to go to the top
- remir 5y agoHow meta would that be to see Amazon Basics products on their movies/shows. I think that would be too much.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ArcFeind 5y ago“When we win a Golden Globe, it helps me get a subsidized rocket program and HQ2," he said, referring to Amazon's diverse business divisions.
- tguedes 5y agoFrom https://stratechery.com/2021/distribution-and-demand/ https://stratechery.com/2021/distribution-and-demand/: `I do get the argument that Prime Video is a waste of money for Amazon; Brad Stone notes in his new book Amazon Unbound that “there was little evidence of a connection between viewing and purchasing behavior” and that “any correlation was also obfuscated by the fact that Prime was growing rapidly on its own.”` Is that nugget actually true or is Bezos just obsessed with the glamor of Hollywood?
- ffggvv 5y agoyeah i highly doubt it’s true. but maybe over time if prime video gets compelling enough that people buy prime just for access to it, then it could be true. right now it’s just seen as a bonus if you already have prime for other reasons. maybe bezos just believes it anyway
- simias 5y agoI find it hard to believe as well, although of course if you subscribe to prime for movies and TV you're probably more likely to use it for free deliveries as well. But if the plan is to make Prime more popular there seem to be many, many simpler and probably cheaper ways to do that. It's as if McDonalds started a movie studio in order to sell Movie + Big Mac bundles.
- hrktb 5y agoIn France McDonalds partnered with a book publisher to create a whole new collection to bundle books with Happy Meals. Small steps yet, but they could be getting there.
- tguedes 5y agoFor years McDonalds and other fast foods in America bundled toys with Happy Meals. Building cheap little toys is way less expensive than big budget media.
- 5y ago
- shmageggy 5y agoThat blew my mind. We have so much sci-fi depicting the evil mega-corp that's it has become a trope, yet we're just lumbering along towards that exact future.
- bemmu 5y agoNo need to resist, Buy n Large provides everything you need to be happy.
- nemo44x 5y agoAnd the “evil mega-Corp” will gladly sell you that sci-fi in whichever medium you prefer. Hell, they’ll even recommend it to you.
- mcintyre1994 5y agoThere's probably books on that exact topic published by them and only possible to legally consume by purchasing it from them and reading it on their hardware.
- hnbad 5y agoWhy suppress the revolution when you can just sell the revolution in episodic form as escapism to be consumed from the safety of your own home. There's an argument that progressive political comedy shows are actually detrimental because they give the viewer the feeling of having "solved" the problems presented by the mere act of watching. Instead of facing the problem directly and trying to do something about it, we consume the problem as entertainment in a small neat (time)box and can then just go on ignoring it. There have been recent findings that support for BLM and its causes among "white allies" drastically rose throughout the protests but is now as low or even lower than before (and also corporations not following through with their promises of donating money towards relevant causes because it is no longer profitable for them to signal support). This would fit the same model: most white people who supported BLM only developed an awareness for the problems due to the protests and then supported the protests (and hashtag campaigns) but as soon as the protests were over and minimal reforms (including non-reforms that actually did the opposite, e.g. police funding bills) the problem was "solved" in their mind and they abandoned the movement and maybe even felt personally attacked by anyone claiming nothing had changed fundamentally.
- aero-glide2 5y agoAmazon is becomingly scarily huge. But if Bezos keeps funding Blue Origin (and it actually starts sending stuff to orbit), I'm okay with it.
- awb 5y agoI'm sure Bezos knows what he's talking about, but how does this work exactly? Amazon Prime Video and the marketplace have different entry points. Is the idea just general brand awareness?
- chrisin2d 5y agoA customer buys into the Amazon Prime bundle. You can get standalone Amazon Prime Video membership — buuut it's about the same price as complete Amazon Prime membership! So you might as well get the complete membership and get all the perks you might want in the future. And bam, you're now in the Amazon Prime universe. One day you'll be comparison shopping for a specific pair of shoes you like online, and you'll see that Amazon has the lowest (or one of the lowest) prices plus free one- or two-day shipping, and hey, you've got that Prime membership from back when you wanted to watch Amazon Prime Video. Deal sealed. It lowers the barriers for every Amazon Prime-connected entry point.
- awb 5y agoSure, just surprised that people are finding Amazon through Prime Video and not the other way around.
- divbzero 5y agoI think it is usually the other way around: people are finding Prime Video through Amazon. I suspect many would subscribe to Prime for deliveries even if Prime Video didn’t exist, and few would subscribe to Prime for Prime Video alone.
- graeme 5y agoIt’s more like Prime Video helps retain you once you’re in Prime. And if you stay in, you order more. The goal of Prime Video is to decrease churn.
- seanicus 5y agoThey're not joking; this acquisition cost more than it cost Disney to buy Marvel and Lucasfilm COMBINED. They're definitely taking the entertainment end of their business very seriously.
- vmchale 5y agoMakes sense I guess. That goes deeper than I thought!