Key Points
- Amazon’s Prime Video now connects with more than 600 content partners globally, including dozens across Japan, Australia and India.
- A Prime Video executive said the company uses a consistent business model but adapts its strategy locally, emphasizing that diverse Asia-Pacific markets require tailored programming and partnerships.
- Prime Video continues to position itself as an “entertainment hub,” combining its core subscription with add-on channels, rentals and bundled services to address slowing streaming growth.
Amazon’s Prime Video now hooks into more than 600 content partners around the world, including more than 70 in Japan, 50 in Australia and 30 in India, according to comments made by a company executive at an industry conference this week.
During a session at the APOS media conference in Bali, Gaurav Gandhi, the Vice President of Prime Video’s businesses in the Asia-Pacific and Australia-New Zealand territories, said the region’s diversity requires localized strategies rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
“We operate a common business model, but we cannot have a common playbook for a diverse region like APAC,” Gandhi said.
While programming and market strategies vary by country, Gandhi said two elements remain consistent across the region: Prime Video operates as part of Amazon Prime memberships and serves as an aggregation platform that layers additional subscription services and rentals on top of its core offering.
The strategy used by Prime Video is addressing ongoing changes in the streaming marketplace on a regional basis, with a specific focus on executing and fostering streaming bundles and partnerships as competition grows and streaming sign-ups slow.
The approach is particularly important in Asia, where streaming services face both highly competitive developed markets and lower-margin emerging economies. Similar aggregation efforts have emerged elsewhere in the region, including a recently announced Southeast Asian partnership between Viu and iQIYI International and a distribution alliance between Disney Plus and Tving in Japan.
India remains central to Amazon’s regional ambitions. Shilangi Mukherji, who leads Prime Video India’s subscription business, highlighted the company’s integration of Amazon MX Player, which combines Prime Video’s subscription audience with a large free, ad-supported streaming user base.
Mukherji said more than 60 percent of Prime Video’s Indian customers watch content in four or more languages, reflecting the country’s multilingual viewing habits. The platform now programs in 10 languages and has developed what Amazon describes as its largest slate of original productions outside the United States.
Prime Video has launched more than 100 original titles in India, with another 100-plus projects in development, while roughly 60 percent of its series have been renewed for additional seasons.
In Japan, Prime Video’s second-largest market in the region, Country Manager Keisuke Oishi said the company spent much of the last decade building consumer acceptance of subscription video services in a market traditionally dominated by free-to-air television.
The service has since expanded around four key content pillars: anime, scripted entertainment, unscripted programming and live sports. Live boxing, introduced in 2022, has grown into a recurring programming franchise alongside a growing slate of manga adaptations.
India has also served as a test market for new ideas, with the company’s trialing mobile-first and tiered subscription plans for its own service and those of partners, Gandhi said.
