Prime Video, owned by Amazon, plans to change its content strategy in Southeast Asia from a model based on original works to one that emphasizes licensing. As a result, some jobs were cut in the region.
The move follows last week’s announcements of restructuring and hundreds of job cuts at Prime Video and Amazon’s MGM in North America.
“Today, we have decided to discontinue some programs and initiatives and rebalance our international organization to focus on the countries and regions that drive the most growth for our services. In APAC, To support the Southeast Asia (SEA) region, we are reducing our investments in Southeast Asia (SEA) and moving to a leaner local operating model. David Simonsen is the leader of this lean SEA team based in Singapore. “I will continue to lead the company and work more closely with our centralized business team to attract new customers in the region. Our focus on investments in other Asia-Pacific regions, including Japan and India, remains unchanged.” said Gaurav Gandhi, Vice President, Asia Pacific, in a memo to staff.IEtty. “As a result of these changes, we have eliminated some roles within the SEA team.”
“We remain very optimistic about the long-term future of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, and are committed to our long-term vision of making Prime Video the first choice entertainment destination for customers around the world. We are making important steps and investments in the future,” Mr. Gandhi continued.
Broader context was provided by Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. “Our industry continues to evolve rapidly, and it is important that we prioritize investments for the long-term success of our business while remaining focused on what we know is most important to our customers.” Over the past year, we’ve expanded nearly every aspect of our business to improve our ability to deliver more groundbreaking movies, TV shows, and live sports to our customers around the world with personalized, easy-to-use entertainment experiences. We have been considering the matter,” he said in another letter to staff. “As a result, we were able to increase our investments while identifying opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas and focus our efforts on the content and products that will have the most impact.”
Prime Video will continue to have a Southeast Asia regional team in Singapore, albeit on a smaller scale. And it is understood that no local original Southeast Asian programming that is in production or in production will be cancelled.
Amazon’s streaming efforts were launched in the region only recently, in the case of Thailand in August 2022, but some regions were not able to benefit from Amazon’s Prime Shopping membership service. This meant that the company operated primarily in low ARU markets (Singapore being an exception for the wealthy) against much more established incumbents. In some regions, such as Thailand and Malaysia, competition for streaming eyeballs is unfolding between global giants, regional players, and China’s two biggest streaming platforms.
Mr Gandhi’s comments that the strategy has not changed in Japan and India highlight the difference in approach in larger, wealthier markets where the program may be more exportable and in the developing region of Southeast Asia. There is.
In Southeast Asia, the company plans to license not only U.S. products but also local content across the region, such as Korean programs and Japanese anime.