US-based internet firm Amazon, in its efforts to beef up local content in India on its video-streaming platform Amazon Prime Video, has tied up with Hindi film-maker Kabir Khan to create an original series titled The Forgotten Army. Prior to this, the company had announced five such content deals with large film studios including Yash Raj Films, Excel Entertainment, Dharma Productions, Vishesh Films and T-Series.
Citing the example of Japan, Roy Price, head of global content, Prime Video, said, “Indian viewers watch a lot of local content. We will bring all the American originals and TV series, but we will also have a rich supply of licensed films like Sultan or Joker and also original content. We do see spikes whenever we launch new shows or movies. While films like Befikre, Ghazi Attack etc, did very well, old movies tend do well as recommendation engine kicks in.” According to data released by App Annie, Amazon Prime Video reported a user base of 9.4 million in January this year. In total, users spent about 15.6 million hours on the platform. While Star India owned video-streaming platform Hotstar in the same period, had 63.4 million users spending about 188.3 million hours watching content.
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The platform has a variety of films including Sultan, Kabali and other Hollywood films such as Batman vs Superman – Dawn of Justice besides English shows such as Mr Robot, The Night Manager, Lethal Weapon, The Good Wife and Two and a Half Men. “The five deals that we have announced in India – Yash Raj Films, Excel, Dharma, Vishesh Films and T-Series – all are long-term output deals. The objective is to make sure that if a viewer wants to see a latest movie, then this is the place,” said Nitesh Kripalani, director and country head of Amazon Prime Video India.