Amazon is reportedly planning to offer advertising-supported streaming services for both television and music-video content.
This service, according to people close to the situation, has already been discussed with Amazon's partners. The streaming offer is expected to be launched in the coming months and the company has already talked to the creators of Betas, a series which it co-produced in 2013, about the possibility of including it in their streaming options.
The e-commerce giant is also planning to give free access to music videos to the people who visit their site. However, like the streaming service, this will also be supported by ads. A person who searches for CDs by Bruce Springsteen might be offered to watch the Born in the U.S.A video for free.
According to industry experts, the streaming service supported by ads is a leap made by Amazon to delve deeper into the multimedia market. Although the company is a leading name in e-commerce, its rivals including YouTube, Netflix, and Google has surpassed it in terms of streaming content.
An Amazon spokeswoman said, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, "We're often experimenting with new things, but we have no plans to offer a free streaming media service."
The ad-supported streaming video service is envisioned to help Amazon build up its ad-placing revenues for the coming months. eMarketer stated that Amazon's ad-placing profits may reach $1 billion for 2014, leaving behind AOL but still smaller than Yahoo's and Google's share.
This new service is also seen as a step to entice Amazon users to upgrade their accounts to the Prime membership. This membership gives unlimited access to streaming video and comes with an option for a two-day delivery service.
The ad-supported streaming services are also placed to encourage customers to buy more products from Amazon. Also, the company plans to use the streaming data made by customers to help them come up with better product recommendations for every one of their 240 million users.
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