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 <\/p>\n
Amazon recently premiered its new dramedy Transparent. The massive retailer is banking on its original TV content to rope in new customers. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Roy Price, the head of Amazon Studios, says getting arts and entertainment to its customers is in Amazon's DNA. <\/p>\n
\"We sell a wide variety of products, but we do have our origin in books and movies and music and stories,\" Price says. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\"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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\"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. <\/p>\n
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Amazon's Original Content Primes The Pump For Bigger Sales<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amazon recently premiered its new dramedy Transparent. The massive retailer is banking on its original TV content to rope in new customers. Continue reading