The pandemic has delayed the strategy ofAmazon in the contents. But the American group intends to catch up and accelerate in France this year by offering films, series, reality TV programs and even a sporting event to subscribers to its Prime fast delivery service. Of the 250 productions under development, 25 concern Europe. “With the Covid-19 we had to stop a lot of filming, explained Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. We want to offer the most diverse content possible to reach our 150 million Prime subscribers worldwide”.
On the film side, two original productions should be released this year, including the historical drama The Fools’ Ball by Mélanie Laurent or comedy Flashback by Caroline Vigneaux. Several series will also arrive including Mixed, a high school in the 1960s opening up to co-education or Totems, about a love story between two spies, one French, the other Russian, during the Cold War in 1964. The comedy in eight episodes, Miskina by Melha Bedia – including the movie Strong could not be released in theaters last year and had been offered directly on the Internet by Amazon – will arrive next year just like Greek salad by Cédric Klapisch, continuation of the cinematographic saga started by the Spanish inn in 2002. “We are also going to offer a manhunt around celebrities and the French adaptation of our international program, LOL, who laughs comes out!“, adds Thomas Dubois, creative director Amazon Originals France.
Above all, for the first time, the service will broadcast certain tennis matches at Roland-Garros live (at night on the Philippe-Chatrier court and during the day on the Simonne-Mathieu court) commented on by sports consultants including Amélie Mauresmo, Sandra Bartoli, Fabrice Santoro… “It’s a new era that is opening up for the tournament, said Guy Forget, director of Roland-Garros. This will allow us to attract a new, younger audience”. Last week, the firm of Jeff Bezos won American football rights, the NFL, for a billion dollars a year from 2023 to 2033.
Seven billion dollars spent in 2019
In reality, Seattle society has little choice. All of the Hollywood majors are launching their own video-on-demand service and recovering their catalog to offer it exclusively on the Internet. Disney, Warner, Paramount, NBCUniversal…all looking to catch up netflix which has just exceeded 200 million subscribers worldwide. For Amazon, it is therefore a question of differentiating itself at all costs. “We’ve seen this trend coming for some time now, so we’ve secured access to catalogs and invested heavily in our own content to grow our franchises around the world,” Salke said. However, Amazon refuses to give any figures on the amount spent on Prime Video. Analysts estimated that in 2019, the group spent $7 billion a year on content. “You will continue to see us bring the best in entertainment to our subscribers,” she adds.
Another constraint, the American platforms must now invest in European productions and exhibit them in order to comply with the new Brussels Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS). Part of their turnover must therefore finance the creation of European films and series from this year. “In France, our investments are progressing because what we do here is appreciated by our users and by creators”, underlines James Farrell, international manager of Amazon Originals, films and TV.
According to the Observatory of video on demand published by the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), the American should invest 37 million euros this year in French production against 164 million euros for Netflix. In October 2020, it was in second position among video platforms in France with 28.3% market share, far behind Netflix (63%) but growing very strongly (+6.8 points in one year). What give him hope for this year.