Amazon recently premiered its new dramedy Transparent. The massive retailer is banking on its original TV content to rope in new customers. Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Amazon Studios hide caption

Amazon recently premiered its new dramedy Transparent. The massive retailer is banking on its original TV content to rope in new customers.

Amazon is betting that binge-watching will lead to more online buying. On Friday, the company put up all 10 episodes of a highly anticipated series called Transparent, a show about a transgender parent coming out to her children just one of a spate of original movies and TV shows coming out this year.

Though the online shopping giant has a history of mediocre self-produced programming, this time it's bringing in some big name talent and putting a lot more financial muscle behind its efforts. This push is part of a much bigger plan by Amazon that includes original video games and books.

Roy Price, the head of Amazon Studios, says getting arts and entertainment to its customers is in Amazon's DNA.

"We sell a wide variety of products, but we do have our origin in books and movies and music and stories," Price says.

So in 2011, the company made access to a streaming video service part of Amazon Prime, the retailer's premium service. Prime was initially set up to provide free two-day delivery for an annual fee. Price says adding exclusive content is a way to make Prime more appealing.

"It adds special value to the service to have something completely unique and original that was developed with that customer group in mind," he says.

And with the idea in mind of bringing in a lot of new customers as well, says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. He says it's about a lot more than getting them to watch TV.

"Amazon concluded a few years ago that if you give people only free shipping they're less likely to sign up than if you give them free shipping plus free media," Pachter says.

Continue reading here:

Amazon's Original Content Primes The Pump For Bigger Sales