LOS ANGELES—In a notable example of how major Hollywood studios are embracing AI-powered production tools, Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the GenAI Creators' Fund and its first green-lit projects.

The initiative aims to give creators of all styles and backgrounds access to professional-grade AI tools and funding, bringing together established filmmakers, digital creators, and technology startups to produce high-quality cinematic entertainment.

Amazon MGM Studios also revealed three green-lit animation projects originating from the fund: “Cupcake & Friends” from BuzzFeed Studios; “Love, Diana Music Hunters” from creator Albie Hecht, now chief content officer at pocket.watch; and “Punky Duck” from creator Jorge R. Gutierrez. All three series will premiere on Prime Video at a future date.

The production will use Project Nara, Amazon MGM Studios' purpose-built AI production platform for cinematic storytelling, built on AWS.

Project Nara is used exclusively by Amazon MGM Studios and by creators selected for the GenAI Creators' Fund.

As a collaborative production workspace in which creative teams can generate video, make edits, provide feedback, and track progress in real time, Project Nara supports both animation and live-action production workflows. Amazon MGM Studios says the the technology reflects one of the company’s core beliefs: human creativity leads, and AI supports.

“Creative breakthroughs happen when visionary storytellers are given access to transformative tools,” said Albert Cheng, head of AI Studios, Amazon MGM Studios. “The GenAI Creators’ Fund and Project Nara position human creativity at the center of our efforts to integrate generative AI into our production processes at Amazon MGM Studios. We’re proud of the work that these filmmakers have accomplished and look forward to sharing these creators’ visions with the world.”

The fund is backed by Amazon MGM Studios and AWS to assist professional filmmakers in developing GenAI workflows. It provides grants for proofs of concept and shorts from creators who have built massive audiences on digital platforms but have not had access to professional production tools. Finally, it also gives startups building production solutions access to expertise from Amazon MGM Studios and AWS, who can judge the technology’s usefulness in actual cinematic workflows.

Amazon MGM Studios describes the first round of greenlit projects originating from the fund as follows:

• “Cupcake & Friends”: A relatable cupcake and her friends face the hilarious and thrilling challenges of a sleepover, with unexpected twists at every corner. Created by BuzzFeed Studios.
• “Love, Diana Music Hunters”: Based on pocket.watch creator partner Diana, the most-followed girl in the world on YouTube, this young band of K-pop space-traveling musicians races to Planet Goo, where they must perform a concert to restore the music and save the aliens. Created by Albie Hecht at pocket.watch, former president of entertainment at Nickelodeon and developer of  “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
• “Punky Duck”: A lovable punk duck and his best friend, Smiley Cat, tear through a wildly exaggerated Los Angeles, hilariously stumbling into alien invasions, giant monsters, robot criminal conspiracies, telenovela-style family drama and supernatural mayhem—all while trying (and usually failing) to do the right thing. Created by Emmy-winning Jorge R. Gutierrez, writer/director of the animated feature “The Book of Life” for 20th Century Studios and creator of “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” for Nickelodeon and “Maya and the Three” for Netflix.

Project Nara is an end-to-end collaborative workspace that integrates AI production agents with professional tools already used by creators, such as Maya, Blender, Nuke, Unreal Engine and Adobe Suite, Amazon said. It combines best-in-class third-party video models with a proprietary model portfolio trained on Amazon MGM Studios' existing IP, solving complex cinematic challenges like character consistency, smooth motion between shots, and cross-shot continuity that no single model can address alone. AWS’s cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities enable storytelling at scale, according to Amazon.

Project Nara’s key features include: a model-agnostic architecture that routes each task to the optimal AI model; compounding intelligence that makes every subsequent production faster and more efficient; production-aware AI agents that carry full creative context across titles; a camera-to-cloud data bridge preserving on-set data end-to-end; and complete provenance tracking for IP protection, Amazon said.

AWS provides Amazon MGM Studios with global cloud infrastructure and services that enable end-to-end AI content creation.

"Amazon has quietly and methodically assembled the only end-to-end AI content creation ecosystem in the industry, spanning from infrastructure to creative tools to distribution and funding of creative content,” said Samira Bakhtiar, general manager of Media & Entertainment, Games, and Sports, AWS. “Project Nara illustrates how AWS can help filmmakers of all kinds bring AI to the full creative pipeline, from concept to screen, using a wide range of familiar models and tools on a cloud trusted by the entertainment industry. With investments like the GenAI Creators’ Fund, our collaboration with Innovative Dreams around hybrid filmmaking, and partnerships with leading generative AI providers like Luma and fal, AWS is building an ecosystem for human creativity powered by AI.”

LONDON—Global connected TV (CTV) advertising revenue will surge from $44 billion in 2025 to $81 billion by 2030, with CTV ad revenues expected to surpass traditional linear TV advertising during the 2030s, according to new research by Omdia.

The researchers also reported that Google, Amazon and Netflix will dominate the TV landscape in the upcoming years. As the fight to “own the living room” enters a new phase, Google, Amazon and Netflix are projected to capture 50% of the global connected TV advertising market by 2030.

“The battle for the living room is no longer only about streaming content,” said Maria Rua Aguete, head of media and entertainment at Omdia. “It is increasingly about controlling the platform, the advertising layer, the operating system, the data and ultimately the consumer relationship.”

Aguete noted that television is becoming one of the most strategic gateways for digital advertising, retail media and commerce integration, with tech companies increasingly competing to control the TV interface itself.

The findings also highlight how the center of power in television is rapidly shifting away from traditional broadcasting toward streaming platforms, TV operating systems and advertising ecosystems. By the end of the decade Omdia reports that:

• Google is forecast to command 26% of global CTV advertising revenue.
• Amazon is expected to account for 13%.
• Netflix is projected to represent 9%.
• Combined, Google, Amazon, and Netflix will account for half of the entire global CTV advertising market by 2030.

The shift comes as media companies, streamers, retailers and technology giants race to secure premium positioning in connected households. Amazon is leveraging Prime Video and retail media integration to expand its TV advertising footprint, while Netflix continues to scale its advertising business globally through its ad-supported tier. Google remains dominant through YouTube’s massive connected TV reach and broader advertising infrastructure.

Omdia expects several trends to accelerate the transformation of television advertising over the next five years:

• Expansion of ad-supported streaming services
• Convergence of retail media and television advertising
• Growth in programmatic and targeted TV advertising
• Increasing importance of TV operating systems and smart TV ecosystems
• Greater competition for consumer attention and platform ownership

Omdia also revealed that the European TV operating system landscape is shifting rapidly. According to the research firm, VIDAA is becoming Europe’s third-largest TV operating system this year after Android TV and Tizen, overtaking several established competitors as manufacturers seek greater ownership of the smart TV experience.

“CTV companies are at risk of losing incredibly valued ground to these tech giants and many cannot afford to do so as the hardware business becomes increasingly unprofitable,” added David Tett, principal analyst at Omdia. “Strategies are needed to fight for their own advertising revenues in the new-look landscape and avoid ceding too much ground to players such as Google and Amazon.”

STAMFORD, Conn.—Charter’s operating brand Spectrum and Amazon have announced that the Spectrum TV App will launch on Amazon Fire TV devices starting on April 15. The deal will allow subscribers to Spectrum to stream their full pay TV lineup on Fire TV devices.

“The Spectrum TV App is designed to fit seamlessly into how customers stream TV today,” said Elena Ritchie, senior vice president, video at Spectrum. "Making it available on Amazon Fire TV devices will give our customers even more flexibility to access their Spectrum TV service on the streaming platforms they use every day.”

The Spectrum TV App is available to Spectrum TV customers at no additional cost. Access on Fire TV devices will let customers:

• Stream Spectrum TV with the ability to pause live TV.
• Use the new Multiview feature for select sports games.
• Access Cloud DVR recordings.
• View On Demand entertainment.

“Our mission at Fire TV is to get customers to the content they want fast, and we’re super excited to add Spectrum TV to the Fire TV experience,” said Aidan Marcuss, vice president Amazon Fire TV. “Spectrum customers will now soon be able to access the Spectrum TV App on a wide range of smart, powerful, and fast Fire TV devices, from Fire TV Sticks to Fire TV-powered Smart TVs from leading TV brands."

Once launched, Spectrum Video customers can install the Spectrum TV App on their Fire TV device and seamlessly log in to the app without credentials while inside their home. The Spectrum TV App will be available on Amazon Fire TV devices running Fire OS 6+ or Vega OS, including the Fire TV 4K Select, Fire TV 4K Max, Fire TV Omni QLED Series, Hisense U6, TCL QM64L Series, and Panasonic Z95B.

In addition to Amazon Fire TV devices, the Spectrum TV App is available on Xumo Stream Box, as well as Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, Apple TV, Amazon Fire Tablets, LG smart TVs, Roku, Samsung smart TVs, VIZIO smart TVs, Xbox and Xumo TV.

NEW YORK—At IAB NewFronts 2026, Samsung Ads, the advanced advertising division of Samsung Electronics, unveiled a full-funnel performance platform powered by AI and shoppable innovation that includes a new commerce integration with Amazon to accelerate impact.

The integration with Amazon marks a notable expansion in the ease and capability of shoppable TV, providing advertisers with a full-funnel ad platform from ads to actual purchases.

Additionally, Samsung TV Plus announced an expanded offering with live events, creator-led programming and interactive experiences.

“This moment marks a new era of TV, and Samsung is leading what comes next,” said Sang Kim, executive vice president and head of North America Service Business, Samsung Electronics. “Consumers are choosing ad-supported streaming, creators they trust, and live moments they want to experience together, and brands need a platform built to turn that attention into action. By combining connection, intelligence, and outcomes, Samsung is moving TV beyond reach and into real, measurable performance that drives business growth.”

As part of the presentation, Samsung is announcing a partnership with Amazon Ads to bring Amazon’s remote-enabled Interactive Video Ad (IVA) technology directly to Samsung TV Plus. This makes Samsung TV Plus the first external CTV device partner to offer this capability through Samsung’s integration with Amazon DSP.

Launching in July, the integration enables viewers to take immediate action from their Samsung TV screen. For brands selling on Amazon, “Add to Cart” functionality allows shoppers to purchase directly within their Amazon storefront with a seamless click of the remote. For advertisers who do not sell on Amazon, outcome driven headlines like “Send to Phone” and “Sign Up Today” extend engagement beyond the TV screen.

In addition, advertisers will be able to access and activate Samsung TV Plus inventory through Samsung’s partnership with Amazon DSP, delivering the same seamless buying experience they are already familiar with. They can also tap into Amazon’s trillions of browsing, streaming, and shopping signals—brought together in Amazon Marketing Cloud—to unlock robust measurement and insights across the funnel.

“Our shoppable ad formats are proven to drive measurable performance on and off Amazon through our differentiated combination of broad reach and authenticated signals,” said Kelly MacLean, vice president of engineering, science and product for Amazon DSP. “By bringing Amazon’s interactive ad technology to Samsung through Amazon DSP, together we’re providing an experience for advertisers to deliver on any full-funnel marketing objective – whether it’s awareness, consideration, or conversion.”

Samsung Ads is also expanding its capabilities with new formats via Creative Canvas, its turnkey solution for brands to update their ad creative for CTV. New capabilities including product galleries, vertical video, and click-to-email are evolving the TV screen where viewers can deeply engage, explore, and shop.

“Shoppable innovation is no longer a future concept, it’s the standard,” said Courtney Howell, head of Agency Development, Samsung Ads. “With our new Amazon integration and the expansion of Samsung Ads interactive ad capabilities, we’re transforming the biggest screen in the home into a fully shoppable, performance-driven platform where inspiration, engagement, and purchase happen in the same moment.”

Samsung also highlighted AI-powered improvements to its platform. These include:

• AI-Powered Contextual Targeting: Continuous interpretation of action on-screen to influence timing, relevance, and the next best move, ensuring brands appear in the exact right place at exactly the right moment.
• AI-Powered Audience Collectives: Leverage proprietary Samsung insights across devices to identify those most likely to engage, convert, or respond – keeping campaigns precise, relevant, and highly effective.

“If Samsung TV Plus is the foundation and AI is the engine, performance is the impact,” added Kim. “When TV becomes interactive, performance follows. Samsung is turning attention into action by bringing intelligence, interactivity, and measurement together on the biggest screen in the home.”

During the presentation, Samsung doubled down on interactive experiences that create more meaningful connections between brands and audiences.

In 2026, Samsung TV Plus plans to embed interactivity across the entire service with partners like A+E Global Media, AMC Networks, LiveNOW from Fox, MotoAmerica, Mark Rober TV, TelevisaUnivision, and Vevo.

Newfront announcements regarding live experiences and exclusives arriving on Samsung TV Plus in 2026 included:

• HOOLIGANS: The ARCH Racing Project with Keanu Reeves & Gard Hollinger: Executive produced by and starring Keanu Reeves and Gard Hollinger, the six-part docuseries follows the founders of ARCH Motorcycle as they enter the world of professional racing with the same precision and innovation that defines their brand. Produced by V10 Entertainment, this underdog story offers an inside look at how the lean, scrappy, and dynamic team at ARCH punches above their weight as they go up against the giants of motorsports. Premiering this summer only on Samsung TV Plus, Hooligans: The ARCH Racing Project marks the service’s expansion into original content with its first-ever exclusive docuseries.
• Mark Rober Live Global Event (wt): In a top secret, two-hour global live event on Samsung TV Plus, viral inventor and former NASA engineer Mark Rober invites audiences into a real-time, high stakes scientific mission where discoveries unfold live. Blending cutting edge technology with unprecedented access, this is a rare moment where viewers won’t just watch history, they’ll experience it as it happens. Location and premiere date to be announced at a later date.
• MotoAmerica: Samsung TV Plus is revving up its live sports portfolio as the exclusive FAST home of MotoAmerica, the premier motorcycle road racing series in North America, streaming every live race for fans and delivering wall-to-wall coverage throughout the 2026-27 seasons.

NEW YORK—Nielsen has announced that its Audience Segments from Nielsen Marketing Cloud (NMC) are now available across the Amazon Ads marketplace, including the Amazon DSP and the data clean room, the Amazon Marketing Cloud.

The launch allows advertisers to seamlessly access Nielsen’s audience segments to target their specific audience, deliver ads across multiple platforms and formats, and measure performance in Amazon’s expansive ecosystem.

The segments are available through Zeotap Data Distribution connection

Nielsen said that NMC’s comprehensive and proprietary Audience Segments provide deep audience targeting and activation capabilities across industries including CPG, auto and finance, and includes demographics, shopping behaviors, and media consumption.

Advertisers and agencies leveraging these segments via the Amazon DSP, through Zeotap Data Distribution, can activate across Amazon DSP’s third-party supply integrations and first-party supply sources, including Prime Video, Freevee, Twitch, Amazon.com, Fire TV, Kindle, and Alexa.

In addition, through Amazon Marketing Cloud, buyers can analyze and collaborate on Nielsen’s high quality data within a secure clean room environment.

“With our audience segments now in Amazon’s industry leading advertising ecosystem platforms, we offer marketers one of the industry’s best data capabilities to help further drive marketing ROI,” said Kirsten Cummings, general manager, outcomes at Nielsen.

“Distributing best-in-class Nielsen audiences on Amazon DSP is yet another step in fulfilling Zeotap Data’s mission of building and distributing the most effective audiences for marketers globally,” said Vishal Tanwar, vice president of partnerships at Zeotap Data.

Nielsen Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive data and technology solution that powers data-driven advertising and provides real-time insight into audiences. The platform enables clients to manage every phase of the marketing process in a single place—from media planning and activation to data management and attribution, Nielsen said.

LOS ANGELES and PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida—Amazon’s Prime Video has announced a new deal that will allow it to exclusively stream a revival of the PGA Tour’s “The Skins Game” on Black Friday this year.

The agreement adds to Amazon’s growing lineup of live sports, which will also include NFL and NBA coverage on Nov. 28, and marks the first time since 2008 that the event has aired on TV.

Prime Video said it will “exclusively broadcast the special event globally, produced by Pro Shop and Propagate Content in coordination with PGA Tour Studios."

“We’ve taken up the mantle to bring back The Skins Game, and we’re proud to work alongside PGA Tour Studios, Prime Video and Propagate Content to reintroduce this iconic event and reclaim its rightful place on the sports calendar,” said Chad Mumm, co-founder and president of Pro Shop. “By keeping the traditional format intact and adding some creative twists, we’re giving fans an experience that honors the past while delivering pure, high-stakes competition where the pressure builds with every shot.”

Charlie Neiman, head of sports partnerships, Prime Video, added: "Partnering with PGA Tour Studios, Pro Shop and Propagate Content to broadcast this storied event with four of the game's most captivating stars opens more than 15 hours of exclusive live sports coverage on Prime Video, and underscores our commitment to delivering innovative, premium sports programming to fans around the world.”

Originally introduced in 1983 as an unofficial money event on the PGA Tour, The Skins Game became a staple on the sports calendar, showcasing high-stakes competition among golf’s biggest stars, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Fred Couples, Gary Player and Tiger Woods.

Slated to compete in the relaunched “The Skins Game” are 2025 FedExCup Champion, 2025 Ryder Cup points leader and seven-time DP World Tour champion Tommy Fleetwood; 16-time PGA Tour winner Justin Thomas; two-time major champion Xander Schauffele; and eight-time PGA Tour winner Keegan Bradley. The foursome—which has combined to win 34 career PGA Tour events—will compete at the new Panther National in South Florida, the vision of Jack Nicklaus and Thomas in his debut design.

Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. ET on Nov. 28 and lead directly into a busy day of live sports for Prime Video that also includes the third annual Black Friday Football game and a brand-new NBA on Prime doubleheader. Additional coverage details will be announced in the coming weeks, the streamer reported.

The producers said that the format will remain true to the traditional Skins Game structure, where each hole carries a dollar value and tied holes roll over to raise the stakes. In an exciting twist for the reimagined Skins Game, the event will feature a “reverse purse”—all players will begin the competition with $1 million on the scoreboard and fans will watch as the players’ fortunes rise and fall with every hole won or lost, Prime Video reported.

“The Skins Game was always bigger than golf. It was a cultural event that brought sports and entertainment together in a way fans hadn’t seen before,” Propagate Content CEO Ben Silverman said. “At Propagate, we’re thrilled to partner with PGA Tour Studios, Prime Video, and Pro Shop to reimagine this iconic franchise for a new generation, combining tradition with innovation to deliver a spectacle that captures the drama and personality that made The Skins Game legendary.”

Added PGA Tour Senior Vice President, Media Chris Wandell: “The PGA Tour is proud to bring back the iconic Skins Game as the kickoff to the sports calendar’s biggest day of the year. With four of our game’s biggest stars competing in a modern reimagining of this nostalgic event, fans around the world are in for a treat this Black Friday as the TOUR tees off a full day of sports action on Prime Video.”

The Federal Trade Commission has issued an Order settling a major case with Amazon.com, Inc., that includes some of the largest fines and refunds the agency has ever collected.

The order resolves allegations that Amazon enrolled millions of consumers in Prime subscriptions without their consent, and knowingly made it difficult for consumers to cancel.

As part of the agreement, Amazon will be required to pay a $1 billion civil penalty, provide $1.5 billion in refunds to consumers harmed by the deceptive Prime enrollment practices, and cease unlawful enrollment and cancellation practices for Prime, the FTC reported in a Sept. 25 announcement and Order.

“Today, the Trump-Vance FTC made history and secured a record-breaking, monumental win for the millions of Americans who are tired of deceptive subscriptions that feel impossible to cancel,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “The evidence showed that Amazon used sophisticated subscription traps designed to manipulate consumers into enrolling in Prime, and then made it exceedingly hard for consumers to end their subscription. Today, we are putting billions of dollars back into Americans’ pockets, and making sure Amazon never does this again. The Trump-Vance FTC is committed to fighting back when companies try to cheat ordinary Americans out of their hard-earned pay.”

In a case filed during the Biden-administration by FTC Chair Lina Khan in 2023, the agency charged Amazon and several Amazon executives with knowingly misleading millions of consumers into enrolling in Prime, violating the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA).

The FTC alleged Amazon created confusing and deceptive user interfaces to lead consumers to enroll in Prime without their knowledge. Compounding these deceptive enrollment practices, the FTC claimed that Amazon also created a complex and difficult process for consumers seeking to cancel their Prime subscription, with the goal of preventing consumers from cancelling Prime. Amazon documents discovered in the lead up to trial showed that Amazon executives and employees knowingly discussed these unlawful enrollment and cancellation issues, with comments like “subscription driving is a bit of a shady world” and leading consumers to unwanted subscriptions is “an unspoken cancer," the FTC reported.

In announcing the settlement, the FTC noted that the settlement is only the third ROSCA case in which the FTC has obtained a civil penalty. In addition, the $1 billion civil penalty was the largest ever in a case involving an FTC rule violation and $1.5 billion in consumer redress, providing full relief for the estimated 35 million consumers impacted by unwanted Prime enrollment or deferred cancellation, was the second-highest restitution award ever obtained by FTC action.

The settlement also requires Amazon to stop their unlawful practices and make meaningful changes to the Prime enrollment and cancellation flows in a number of ways. Those include providing a clear and conspicuous button for customers to decline Prime and forcing Amazon to remove a button that says, “No, I don’t want Free Shipping.”

The Commission vote approving the stipulated final order was 3-0. The FTC filed the proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY—Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their various distribution platforms, including Prime Video, Fire TV, Xfinity X1 and Xumo.

As a result of the deals, customers will be able to subscribe and access Peacock Premium Plus, the streaming service’s ad-free experience, as a subscription via Prime Video for $16.99 per month and $169.99 per year.

The companies also renewed several existing distribution deals that will enable customers to continue to access Peacock on Fire TV; buy and rent films from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on Prime Video; and watch Prime Video on Xfinity X1 devices.

The deals highlight the growing complexity of the streaming landscape with companies like Comcast and Amazon providing both streaming services and distribution platforms.

“This multi-faceted set of agreements is a testament to our close collaboration with Amazon, delivering significant value across our businesses and expanding exposure of our world-class content,” said Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast Corporation. “Millions of Amazon customers can continue to enjoy NBCUniversal’s popular shows, films, and live events on Peacock via Fire TV or through Prime Video Subscriptions, or buying or renting on Prime Video, while also accessing Amazon’s premier entertainment on Xfinity X1 — ensuring they can watch what they love, wherever and however they choose.”

“At Amazon, we are always working to make customers’ lives better every day and these new agreements with Comcast NBCU are fantastic for millions of customers, who are looking for the fastest and easiest way to find all their entertainment and sports in one place,” said Mike Hopkins, head of prime video and Amazon MGM Studios. “Adding Peacock to our growing list of subscriptions – while renewing our long-standing agreements for Fire TV, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and Xfinity X1 – deepens an incredible working relationship with Comcast/NBCU, and we look forward to a future of mutual distribution that benefits our shared customers.”

More specifically, beginning on August 28, Amazon customers will be able to sign up for Peacock Premium Plus ad free tier as a subscription for $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year. Premium Plus is Peacock’s ad-free experience, which also offers customers the ability to download certain content for offline viewing and access to live, local NBC channels.

Peacock joins Prime Video’s extensive collection of more than 100 subscription options in the U.S., which are available for customers alongside Amazon MGM Original films and series; the world’s leading selection of movies and series to buy or rent; live sports including Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, and NWSL, as well as hundreds of FAST channels.

In addition, a new multi-year renewal agreement ensures that the Peacock app remains available to Fire TV customers in the U.S. and films from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will continue to be available to buy and rent on Prime Video’s TVOD store.

The agreements also provide distribution for Prime Video on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Xumo, Comcast's streaming joint venture with Charter.

Xfinity TV customers will continue to receive seamless access to Prime Video’s extensive library of premium shows, movies, live sports, subscriptions and FAST channels, directly through Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform and the Xumo streambox as part of a multi-year renewal.

Customers will also be able to continue to search for Prime Video content using Comcast’s Xfinity Voice Remote.

Finally, Comcast’s Sky will provide access to Prime Video on Sky devices across its footprint in Europe. Sky Sports fans in Germany also can now access Sky Deutschland’s premium live sports offering, WOW Live Sports, directly through the Prime Video app as a subscription.

Roku continues to lead the connected TV device market, with a 37% share globally and 37% share of the U.S. market in Q2 2025 according to Pixalate.

The data in the study is notable because it highlights the importance of various operating systems and platforms for app developers, advertisers and others operating in the CTV ecosystem.

During Q2 2025 Poku's market share far exceeded the nearest rival, Amazon at 17% globally and Amazon 17% in the U.S. but Roku’s share did decline slightly from a 38% share globally in Q1. It had a similar slight decline 38% share in the U.S. in Q1.

Pixalate ranks the leading CTV devices by their share of quarterly programmatic advertising delivered to various devices.

Globally, Roku 37% market share in Q2 2025 was followed by Amazon (17%), Samsung (12%), Apple (11%) and LG (7%).

In the U.S., Roku’s 37% market share in Q2 2025 was followed by Amazon (17%), Samsung (12%), Apple (12%), LG (7%), Vizio (4%), Xiami (2%), TCL (2%) and Sony (1%).

More data on other regions can be found here.

NEW YORK—In a landmark agreement to overtake the burgeoning connected TV (CTV) advertising market, Amazon Ads and Roku today announced a new integration that gives advertisers access to the largest authenticated CTV footprint in the U.S. exclusively through Amazon DSP.

The new collaboration, according to the two companies, will deliver logged-in reach to an estimated 80 million U.S. CTV households, representing more than 80% of those homes, according to Comscore data. The exclusive partnership will connect viewers tuned into The Roku Channel, Prime Video, and other CTV streaming services on Roku and Fire TV operating systems; as well as streaming services from Disney, Fox, Paramount, Tubi and Warner Bros Discovery; and all premium publishers.

Early tests of the integration showed that advertisers reached 40% more unique viewers with the same budget and reduced how often the same person saw an ad by nearly 30%, enabling advertisers to benefit from 3x more value from their ad spend, the companies claimed.

The CTV advertising market is the fastest-growing segment of TV advertising, expected to top $33.5 billion in 2025; however, the majority of ads are still viewed on linear TV. Prior to the announcement, Roku already had the largest share of CTV devices on the market at 38%, more than twice that of Amazon’s Fire TV platform (18%), and far ahead of Apple (13%), Samsung (12%), LG (5%) and Vizio (5%).

But competitors are not sitting still; in April, Samsung launched its Creative Canvas interactive ad service, the first TV manufacturer to offer an in-house interactive ad format. Also in April, LG Ad Solutions announced a new integration with Amazon Publisher Services (APS) that enables marketers to access expanded advertising inventory on LG Channels, LG’s free streaming service available on all LG Smart TVs.

(Read: CTV: TV's Latest Gold Rush)

In addition to giving Roku and Amazon a leg up on competitors Google, Disney and Comcast, the companies said the joint venture will unlock an addressable CTV audience at such unprecedented scale, that it "will drive improved performance, planning, optimization, and measurement for all advertisers, further enabling CTV as a true performance solution."

“Our exclusive partnership with Roku is a giant leap for advertisers, bringing best-in-class planning, audience precision, and performance to TV advertising,” said Paul Kotas, senior vice president, Amazon Ads. “The collaboration enables agencies and brands that use Amazon DSP to benefit from greater efficiency and higher performance. We’re removing the guesswork to provide advertisers with unprecedented capabilities and delivering performance in ways that simply weren't possible before. By combining our technologies, advertisers can now drive full-funnel campaign outcomes—from awareness through conversion—while eliminating media waste across Amazon and Roku streaming audiences.”

The integration utilizes a custom identity resolution service, allowing Amazon DSP to recognize logged-in viewers across the Roku OS and devices in the U.S. This exclusive capability enables advertisers to reach the same viewer deterministically across different streaming channels and devices, providing more accurate audience targeting and measurement than previously possible, according to the companies.

“For years, Roku has been committed to delivering performance-driven, open, and interoperable solutions that provide visibility and accountability for advertisers. Our partnership with Amazon strengthens this mission, as Amazon DSP exemplifies these principles,” Roku Media President Charlie Collier said. “This collaboration delivers a unified, future-ready solution at an unprecedented scale, one designed to drive measurable outcomes by unlocking performance across CTV. With nearly half of all TV streaming time in the U.S. happening on Roku, and the power and depth of Amazon in retail and beyond, together we’re uniquely positioned to prove performance and differentiate DSP offerings for our shared advertisers and marketers.”

The new solution will be available in the U.S. to all advertisers that use Amazon DSP by the fourth quarter.

NEW YORK—Amazon Publisher Services (APS) and independent sell-side advertising company Magnite are collaborating more deeply on streaming TV through the APS Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM) and Magnite SpringServe.

Publishers can now access high-quality, incremental demand from Magnite more easily on Amazon devices. Magnite is also giving publishers incremental access to streaming TV inventory via APS on Fire TV devices, the company said.

“We’re pleased to broaden our work with Amazon Ads to make more streaming content on Fire TV devices available to buyers through Magnite,” Sean Buckley, president of revenue at Magnite, said. “By developing the custom integration, we’re able to more comprehensively connect advertisers to premium streaming inventory across Fire TV devices.”

The collaboration builds on existing integrations of Amazon Ads and Magnite. In 2016, Magnite was a launch partner of the Transparent Ad Marketplace, helping drive demand opportunities for APS publishers. In 2024, the company was one of the first to join Amazon Ads’ Certified Supply Exchange Program.

“Expanding our work with Magnite was the natural evolution in our dedication to bring incremental demand to publishers through interoperable solutions,” said Scott Siegler, director of APS. “Our shared goal is to maximize streaming TV advertising effectiveness that ultimately improves consumers’ ad experiences.”

More information is available about activating Magnite demand through APS online.

TYSONS, Va.—Tegna Inc. has announced that it is teaming up with Amazon Fire TV Channels for a new series called “Fire TV Channels Bracket Breakdown” that will offer college basketball fans a new approach to men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament coverage.

The new series from Tegna’s Locked On Podcast Network will cover the tournament with a single click on Fire TV, Fire tablet, and Echo Show devices. “Bracket Breakdown” combines the expertise of notable players, insights from basketball journalists, and the local coverage for which Tegna’s Locked On Podcast Network is known, Tegna reported.

The first “Bracket Breakdown” started with Selection Sunday on March 16, and continues all the way through the National Championship game on April 6 via Amazon Fire TV Channels with no downloads or fees.

“Locked On is uniquely positioned to produce coverage for today’s basketball fans, delivering a fresh perspective on the tournament for the millions of customers on Amazon Fire TV Channels,” said Locked On president, David Locke. “In addition to our successful Locked On College Sports FAST TV channel plus on-demand shows for virtually every team, no other sports outlet is able to pair the best national analysts with local experts that cover these teams year-round like we can.”

”Bracket Breakdown” will feature a line-up of former and current NBA, WNBA, and collegiate players plus national and local team experts from the Locked On Podcast Network.

Production will take place at Locked On’s studios located at Tegna station WFAA in Dallas. All “Bracket Breakdown” episodes will be available on demand on Amazon Fire TV Channels. Fans will find “Bracket Breakdown” on Fire TV, Fire tablet, and Echo Show devices, and can access it directly simply by asking Alexa to “Watch Bracket Breakdown," Tegna explained.

CULVER CITY, Calif.—In a notable expansion of the way viewers can watch local PBS stations, the network and Amazon said more than 150 public TV stations and the PBS Kids channel will launch ad-free over the coming months as a Prime Video FAST offering.

This marks the first time this programming will be available for free on a major streaming service to customers across the country.

Additionally, PBS Distribution (PBSd), a leading distributor of public media content around the world, will offer two new FAST channels, PBS Drama and PBS Documentaries. These channels will be available exclusively for a limited time on Prime Video starting Nov. 26. PBSd will also offer a “pop-up” FAST channel featuring a rotating selection of classic PBS shows, starting with “Reading Rainbow."

This launch marks a significant milestone for PBS in delivering a curated lineup of programming from member stations to a broader FAST audience, particularly at a time when two in three U.S. viewers use ad-supported streaming platforms. FAST Channels on Amazon are accessible through Prime Video and Fire TV. Non-Prime users will have free access to PBS programming under the “Watch for Free” section within Prime Video, PBS and Amazon said.

”We’re delighted to bring PBS’s trusted, high-quality programming to our FAST channels,” Prime Video Marketplace Head Ryan Pirozzi said. “We have put together one of the most exciting FAST offerings today for Prime Video customers, driven by a highly personalized experience, and a leading selection of channels featuring fan-favorite series, movies, news, sports and more. We know our customers will be excited to discover that their beloved PBS member stations and two new PBS FAST Channels are now part of our growing offering.”

PBS, PBS Kids and local station content is also available on PBS.org and pbskids.org, as well as the PBS app and the PBS KIDS Video app available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and smart TVs from Samsung, Xumo and Vizio. Members of local PBS stations may also view an extended library of programming via PBS Passport. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website or contact your local station.

DALLAS—Parks Associates has released a study highlighting how a handful of tech giants dominate the platforms used for streaming video and media among U.S. internet homes.

The firm's new study, “Battle of the Platforms: Assessing Connected TV Ecosystems,’ said Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV are the most popular brands of streaming media players purchased, while Samsung is the most popular brand of smart TV purchased. Together, these three brands dominate in terms of consumer viewing habits, with 65% of U.S. internet households naming one of these brands as their primary streaming video device.

The study also found Roku and Amazon are the most popular brands of streaming media players among owners and in U.S. households overall. Both have expanded into smart TVs as well, broadening their overall CTV platform penetration.

“Samsung has a sizable lead in the smart TV market,” Parks President and Chief Marketing Officer Elizabeth Parks said. “The company’s strength in smart TVs earns it the No. 2 position in CTV platform use, even though Samsung does not have a separate streaming media player offering.”

Parks also reported that it will highlight the results of that study and others during its seventh annual Future of Video event, set for Nov. 19-21 at the Marina del Rey (California) Marriot.

“Most consumers prioritize software capabilities, customer service, and hardware specifications when purchasing a new smart TV,” Parks said, “but a cohesive and carefully designed interface within a single operating system can significantly enhance the user experience after purchase and help to increase brand stickiness. At Future of Video, we will address strategies to increase consumer loyalty for these platforms, devices, and streaming services.”

Future of Video hosts hundreds of leaders in entertainment to discuss ad-based and subscription streaming, bundled services and the changes around advertising and video services. More information is available here.

New research indicates that Roku remains the top connected TV (CTV) streaming device in North America, with a 37% share of the open programmatic ads sold on specific devices in third-quarter 2024.

Samsung Smart TV (17% share), Amazon Fire TV (15%), Apple TV (11%), and LG (10.8%) round out the top-5 CTV platforms in North America.

The new Pixalate reports, which are broken down by region, also found Roku on top in Latin America with a 50% share of what Pixalate calls Market Share of Voice (SOV). SOV is calculated by the share of the open programmatic ads sold on specific devices.

Other key findings include:

• Roku leads in market share in Latin America with 50% SOV, followed by Samsung Smart TV (21%), LG (7%), Amazon Fire TV (3%), TCL (3%)
• Samsung Smart TV devices lead in EMEA with 30% SOV, followed by LG (16%), Amazon Fire TV (15%), TCL (12%), and Sony (6%)
• While Roku leads in market share in North America (37%), it saw a 29% decrease YoY.

For the report, Pixalate analyzed open programmatic advertising activity across more than 100,000 CTV apps and nearly 6 billion global open programmatic ad transactions in Q2 2024.

The full reports can be found here.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has announced that Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios will become the newest member of the global trade association, joining the world's largest film, TV, and streaming companies.

Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios will formally join the MPA on Oct. 1, making it the association's seventh member. In addition to Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, the other members are Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

"The MPA is the global voice for a growing and evolving industry, and welcoming Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios to our ranks will broaden our collective policymaking and content protection efforts on behalf of our most innovative and creative companies," said Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the MPA. "MPA studios fuel local economies, drive job creation, enrich cultures, and bolster communities everywhere they work. With Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios among our roster of extraordinary members, the MPA will have an even larger voice for the world's greatest storytellers."

"Amazon's mission is to entertain customers around the world with compelling film and television. In order to do that, we must support storytellers, while also helping to sustain a robust entertainment industry that works for both studios and our creative partners," said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios. "We are proud to join the MPA and its member studios in their collective efforts to protect creators, content, and consumers worldwide."

The global association works to advance the industry, protect members' content, defend the creative and artistic freedoms of storytellers, and support innovative distribution models that expand viewing choices for audiences everywhere.

Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios has worked with the association since 2017 as a governing board member of the MPA's Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world's leading anti-piracy coalition. Additionally, MGM was a member of the association from 1928 until 2005. Rivkin recruited Netflix to join the association in 2019.

NEW YORK—Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales business of Charter Communications, has announced a new multi-year agreement with Amazon Ads that will make Spectrum Reach a local reseller for Amazon Ads advertising inventory. 

The deal will allow Spectrum Reach to combine its streaming and traditional (i.e., linear) TV inventory, data and overall scale with the Amazon Ads offerings to offer local small and medium-sized business advertisers the ability to reach nearly every household in their respective region.

"Our work with Amazon Ads means local SMB advertisers can now access a modern solution to simplify media fragmentation and reach almost every household in their service areas, including both Spectrum customers and non-subscribers,” said David Kline, executive vice president at Charter Communications and president of Spectrum Reach. "By bringing together Amazon Ads’ capabilities alongside our first-party data, we can offer small to medium-sized businesses the ability to more accurately measure and optimize their advertising spend.”

Spectrum Reach provides custom advertising solutions for local, regional and national clients, using its privacy focused first-party data to help advertisers reach relevant audiences on any platform. Its advertising inventory offers access to more than 450 streaming and traditional networks and publishers, enabling advertisers to effectively place ads on TV, streaming, online video, display, search and social media platforms, the company said. 

More information about Spectrum Reach advertising solutions is available at www.spectrumreach.com .

 NEW YORK—EverPass Media has announced a commercial distribution agreement with Amazon Prime Video for Thursday Night Football that allows all current and future EverPass customers to access and stream Thursday Night Football via the EverPass platform. The agreement is set to begin with this week’s NFL games.

The addition of Prime’s Thursday Night Football package – which includes an exclusive Wild Card Playoff game – builds on EverPass’ expanding sports offerings, which includes other NFL content. EverPass is the exclusive holder of commercial NFL Sunday Ticket rights, which includes all out-of-market games.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Prime to add Thursday Night Football to our live sports catalogue and making it available for commercial businesses to stream,” said Alex Kaplan, CEO of EverPass Media. “With the addition of this package to our portfolio, we're excited to offer our commercial business owners even more choice and control over the sports content that captivates audiences and fuels their success. This partnership underscores our commitment to being the go-to provider for premium sports content for businesses, ensuring that our customers have the very best at their fingertips that allows them to innovate the out-of-home viewing experience and drive growth.”

The deal with Amazon comes after EverPass’s recent acquisition of UPshow. That acquisition provided EverPass with the technology infrastructure to support streaming directly on its platform, establishing a comprehensive media platform, centralizing premium sports and entertainment content and integrating powerful consumer engagement tools designed to drive business growth for the commercial establishment, the company said. 

EverPass was founded in 2023 in partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and 32 Equity, the strategic investment arm of the National Football League. TKO Group Holdings, parent company of UFC and WWE, joined as an investor in 2024.

More information is available at https://everpass.com/. 

NEW YORK—The NBA has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by Warner Bros. Discovery that sought to overturn the NBA’s decision to grant rights to a package of NBA games to Amazon. 

WBD's Turner Sports has NBA rights through the end of the 2024-25 season but lost out in the bidding for a new package of rights, which were granted to Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon. 

In a July lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County Of New York, Commercial Division, WBD had argued that its existing NBA contract gave it the right to match any other offer and that the NBA has improperly rejected its matching offer.

In response, the NBA argued that Turner Sport had significantly altered the terms of the deal with Amazon in its response and that the NBA correctly rejected WBDs offer. 

“Plaintiffs’ claims fail at the outset because the MRE did not give TBS the right to match Amazon’s offer,” the NBA brief said. “As the Complaint acknowledges, TBS’s matching rights are limited to third- party offers relating to NBA game distribution rights that TBS `currently enjoy[s]’ under the NBA/TBS Agreement. TBS does not `currently enjoy’ the rights covered by Amazon’s offer—namely, rights to distribute live NBA games on a disaggregated, standalone basis via an SVOD service streamed over the Internet. Instead, TBS’s current rights are limited to distributing games as part of a linear cable television network, together with the rest of the network’s programming.”

The Turner Sports offer also “made substantive revisions to eight of the Amazon offer’s 27 sections (including revisions to 22 different subsections), changed 11 defined terms that are collectively used roughly 100 separate times, struck nearly 300 words, and added over 270 new words, substantially altering the parties’ rights and obligations in the process,” the NBA brief noted. “Controlling New York law forecloses TBS’s attempt to rewrite the terms of Amazon’s offer and then “accept” those rewritten terms.”

The NBA also noted that WBD did not meet the credit terms for the deal as its debts is currently rated below investment grade. 

The full NBA brief can be found here. 

In an analysis of the lawsuit and the NBA brief, analysts at LightShed Partners noted: “The NBA cited a 1970 NBA/ABC lawsuit, also over media rights, that appears problematic for Turner’s lawsuit: `every competitor has a right to attempt to win a contract by offering terms which its competitors can’t meet, and similarly NBA was … free to seek and accept such terms as were consistent with its legitimate business interests.’ If the NBA can demonstrate legitimate business reasons for each of the items spelled out in the Amazon contract (regardless of how onerous they are for WBD to match), WBD faces a steep uphill battle to enforce its matching rights. WBD will need to show substantial case law to support its attempted match, which nullifies all the NBA’s matching issues, otherwise a dismissal feels likely before year-end 2024.”

NEW YORK—The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced the renewal of its partnership with The Walt Disney Company and new agreements with NBCUniversal (NBCU) and Amazon under which ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video will telecast NBA games for 11 years beginning with the 2025-26 season and running through the 2035-36 season.

The agreements left Warner Bros. Discovery without NBA rights after the end of the upcoming 2024-25 season even though WBD filed a matching offer on July 22 for the Amazon package, saying it had the right to match any agreement under its current contract. 

"We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it," TNT Sports said in a statement that also argued “We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action.” 

The NBA has said that the WBD offer did not match Amazon’s and was rejected. 

The NBA did not release financial terms of the deals, which are believed to be worth $77 billion over 11 years. The annual costs are believed to be $2.6 billion a year for Disney's ABC and ESPN, $2.5 billion a year for the NBCUniversal and $1.8 billion a season with Amazon. 

TNT Sports and its predecessor Turner Sports have aired NBA games since 1984 but its current deal expires at the end of the 2024-25 season. 

The NBA also reported that the NBA App will be a universal access point – seamlessly directing fans to every national game on Disney, NBCU and Amazon platforms.

Overall, the new media deals will expand the reach of NBA telecasts, with all national games available on broadly distributed streaming services – Prime Video, Peacock and ESPN’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer service – and with dramatically increased exposure on broadcast television.  Approximately 75 regular-season games will be on broadcast TV each season, up from the minimum of 15 games under the current agreement, the NBA said 

Disney, NBCU and Amazon also secured the right to distribute an unprecedented number of WNBA live game telecasts, with a significant increase in the reach of WNBA games across broadcast, cable and streaming.  Full details regarding the WNBA’s media agreements will be issued in a separate press release.

“Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.  “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”

“We look forward to building upon our incredible legacy of innovation and growth with our longstanding partners at the NBA,” said ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro.  “The NBA is a vibrant, ascendant league and through this premium collection of rights, including every NBA Finals on our platforms, we will continue to evolve together while successfully navigating the global digital transition and delivering the highest quality coverage for fans.”

“We are proud to once again partner with the NBA and WNBA, two iconic brands and the home of the best basketball in the world,” said Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast Corporation.  “We look forward to presenting our best-in-class coverage of both leagues with our innovative programming and distribution plan across NBC and Peacock to entertain fans and help grow the game.”

“We are honored that the NBA has entrusted Prime Video to deliver its one-of-a-kind action and excitement to viewers around the world,” said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.  “We look forward to continuing to innovate and evolve live sports coverage for our customers, and are fully committed to building an incredible video experience for millions of NBA fans starting in 2025.”

The agreements for each of the companies break down as follows: 

• Disney (ABC/ESPN) will distribute a total of 80 NBA regular-season games per season, including more than 20 games on ABC (generally on Saturday nights with NBA Saturday Primetime and on Sunday afternoons with NBA Sunday Showcase) and up to 60 games on ESPN (generally on Wednesday nights and, on occasion, Friday nights).  ABC/ESPN will continue to telecast all five NBA games on Christmas Day and provide exclusive national coverage of the final day of the regular season. During the playoffs, ABC/ESPN will telecast approximately 18 games in the first two rounds each year and one of the two Conference Finals series in 10 of the 11 years of the agreement.  ABC will remain the exclusive home of the NBA Finals, which it has broadcast since 2003. All NBA games and events on ABC/ESPN will be available on ESPN’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer service.  ABC/ESPN will continue to telecast the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, NBA Draft, NBA Draft Lottery and half of all NBA Summer League games.  ABC/ESPN platforms will also continue to distribute a package of WNBA and NBA G League regular-season and postseason games. Disney will distribute NBA games on ESPN-branded assets in several international markets, including Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and the Netherlands, and via Disney+ in select markets in Asia and Europe. By the end of this renewal, the NBA’s partnership with ABC/ESPN will reach 34 years.
• NBCUniversal. NBCU (NBC/Peacock) will distribute up to 100 NBA regular-season games per season – with more than half of the games airing on NBC (on Sunday and Tuesday nights).  NBCU will telecast the league’s opening night doubleheader on NBC each year and at least two games on MLK Day on NBC and/or Peacock each season. Peacock will stream a doubleheader each Monday night of the season.  Every Tuesday night, NBC will telecast two games across certain NBC affiliate broadcast stations in different regions of the country.  The first game will start at 8 p.m. ET and be available on NBC across affiliate stations in the Eastern and Central time zones.  The second game will start at 8 p.m. PT and be available on NBC affiliate stations across the Pacific and Mountain time zones.  All Tuesday games will be available on Peacock nationally and certain stations may choose to televise both games. NBC will become the home of NBA All-Star, including Rising Stars, State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, featuring AT&T Slam Dunk, Starry 3-Point Contest and Kia Skills Challenge, and the All-Star Game.  In the playoffs, NBC and/or Peacock will telecast approximately 28 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs, with at least half of those games airing on NBC.  NBC will also telecast one of the two Conference Finals series in six of the 11 years on a rotating basis with Amazon, beginning with the 2025-26 season. As part of the partnership, NBCU will distribute NBA games in several European markets through Sky Sports as well as in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.  Additionally, NBCU will distribute WNBA games and be the home of all USA Basketball Senior Men’s and Women’s National Team games. Xfinity will become the Official TV Service of the NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball.  The partnership includes collaboration on marketing and storytelling opportunities, virtual signage during game telecasts and activations at marquee NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball events.
• Amazon. Amazon will distribute 66 NBA regular-season games on Prime Video each season, including Thursday night doubleheaders beginning in January, Friday evening doubleheaders, select Saturday afternoon games, at least one game on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), and the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in the Knockout Round of the Emirates NBA Cup.  In addition, Prime Video will stream the Championship Game of the Emirates NBA Cup. Prime Video will also distribute all six SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament games.  In the playoffs, Prime Video will stream approximately one-third of the first and second rounds each year.  Additionally, Prime Video will stream one of the two Conference Finals series in six of the 11 years on a rotating basis with NBCU, beginning with the 2026-27 NBA season. Amazon will distribute NBA games globally as part of Prime Video, with an expanded package of games in select territories, including Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland.  This expanded package includes a minimum of 20 additional primetime regular season games each year, a Conference Finals series each year, and the NBA Finals in six of the 11 years.  Prime Video will also become the NBA’s strategic partner and third-party global destination of NBA League Pass – the league’s live NBA game subscription service, with expanded distribution rights for NBA League Pass in the U.S. and internationally.  Additionally, as part of the agreement, Prime Video will stream half of all NBA Summer League games as well as a package of WNBA and NBA G League regular-season and postseason games.

NEW YORK—In a last ditch effort to retain rights to air NBA games, Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports has issued a statement saying it has submitted paperwork to match an existing offer for NBA media rights. 

WBD has long argued that its current NBA contract allows it to retain rights if it provides a matching offer for a package of games.

The NBA has already negotiated rights deals believed to be worth around $76 billion for an 11 year period following the upcoming 2024-25 season. Those agreements include a $2.6 billion a year deal with ESPN, a $2.5 billion package with NBCUniversal and a $1.8 billion a season agreement for Amazon to stream a package of games. TNT Sports and its predecessor Turner Sports have aired NBA games since 1984 but its current deal expires at the end of the 2024-25 season. 

WBD's management was severely criticized by TNT commentator Charles Barkley for its failure to negotiate a new deal. “These people I work with, they screwed this thing up, clearly; and we have zero idea what's gonna happen,” Barkley said in May.  The company had $43.1 billion in debt at the end of Q1 2024 and has been struggling to reduce costs. 

“"We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them," a statement from TNT Sports said. "This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years. Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract." 

TNT Sports did not say which offer it matched but published reports indicate that it was matching Amazon’s $1.8 billion package.

Since the Amazon package is for streaming games and TNT Sports would obviously like to continue to air games on both its cable networks and the MAX streaming services, it is not clear how the NBA will respond or if the controversy will now move into the courts.     

LONDON—When it comes to commissioning original streaming programming, Netflix and Amazon returned to dominance in the latest quarterly report from Ampere Analysis. 

Original commissioning, has been challenged in recent years by the launch of studio-backed SVoD platforms, but according to Ampere’s latest report, in the first three months of 2024, Netflix commissioned its highest number of new titles since Q3 2021, and Amazon set a new record for its quarterly commissions. This resurgence in Original orders coincides with falling commissions from cost-conscious rival streamers, which meant the two streaming giants accounted for more than half (53%) of all SVoD commissions globally in Q1, Ampere said.

This growth is spurred by increased investment in international territories, with Netflix and Amazon ordering the majority of their titles from outside the United States. Over the past few years, spend outside of the U.S. by the two commissioners has increased steadily. Ampere predicts it will continue to rise as the players attempt to combat domestic subscriber stagnation by chasing expansion internationally. 

In Q1 2024, Netflix’s Western European commissions almost achieved parity with North American titles for the first time, Ampere said. Asia Pacific titles also saw a notable uptick. Netflix is seizing the opportunity for international growth, focusing on proven market providers of portable content such as Spain, India, and South Korea

Netflix’s Western European commissions were led by the UK, Spain, and Germany. Cost-effective Unscripted content featured heavily in the platform’s Western European commissions, with Documentaries accounting for 30% of regional orders, up from 23% in Q1 last year. The UK only contributed 43% of the region’s Documentaries, a notable drop from the same period last year when it was 78%

In Asia Pacific, Thailand experienced the biggest individual increase with nine titles ordered in Q1 2024. Crime & Thriller content was a focus in India, which is predicted to become Netflix’s largest subscriber hub in the region as it seeks to compete more closely with Amazon in the country.

Netflix is increasingly reliant on pay-one agreements with theatrical studios for its supply of new, exclusive US films, and has decreased its domestic commissioning of original movies, according to Ampere. By contrast, it has upped its international movie orders in territories like the Nordics, Asia Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In comparison, in Q1 2024, Amazon’s Asia Pacific commissions were dominated by Indian productions with a record slate of 37 titles, more than the previous six quarters combined and an increase on Amazon’s previous major Indian slate in Q2 2022 of 32%. Global streamers, including Amazon, have previously struggled to compete with local players that offer strong regional content, Ampere said, however, this total signals Amazon’s intention to take on the incumbent platforms, cementing India as the cornerstone of its international strategy

The streamer also announced its largest slate of Indian original movies to date and is actively pursuing pay-one and co-financing deals with local theatrical distributors. Enabled by its takeover of studio MGM, Amazon has upped its global orders of original movies in the past two years, commissioning more films than Netflix for the first time in Q2 2023

Germany, where Amazon leads Netflix in terms of local subscribers, was the biggest winner in Western European commissions. After a period of focus on Italy and France, Amazon’s commissions saw an unprecedented increase in Germany in Q1 2024 with 13 content orders, almost doubling a previous high in Q1 2021.

 “The market saturation in North America, the growing cost of production, and the lingering impact of the Hollywood strikes have pushed Netflix and Amazon to increase investment in international productions to stimulate subscriber growth," said Mariana Enriquez Denton Bustinza, Senior Researcher at Ampere Analysis. "While several studio-backed SVoDs have made cutbacks internationally, these two streaming giants are doubling down on their localized global strategy. For Netflix, this means catering to a broad subscriber base while leaning on markets whose productions offer the greatest potential for crossover appeal. 

"Meanwhile, Amazon’s approach remains more heavily targeted towards key markets such as India, while it leverages its global position to expand further into the theatrical market to generate downstream revenues from its platforms,” she added.   

IRVING, Texas—Nexstar Media Group has appointed Lisa Taylor as senior vice president of digital advertising sales, where she will be responsible for accelerating  digital revenue growth across the company’s broadcast group. 

An experienced sales leader with an extensive background in local broadcasting, digital sales, data-mining, strategic planning, and new  business development, Taylor will report to Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting  division, and begin her new duties on June 17. 

Across a 20+ year career in advertising sales and marketing with a particular focus on digital products,  data, and insights, Taylor has established a long track record of success, Nexstar said. 

Taylor joins Nexstar from  Amazon, where she has served as senior business development manager for the company’s worldwide  emerging business, Amazon Ads. At Amazon, Taylor built features and benefits that helped drive  revenue growth and value for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business segments, leveraging technology and tools across a variety of advertising products and solutions to drive a 300% increase in  new business revenue. She was responsible for designing and developing a strategic plan for digital  growth, deepening internal and external partnerships with stakeholders such as ad tech and supply, and  establishing measurement metrics to provide addressable advertising solutions for customers across the  Amazon ad portfolio. 

At Nexstar, Taylor will oversee digital advertising sales for the company’s broadcast group, including  its owned and partner television stations and their respective websites in 117 local markets across the  country. She will be responsible for leading the group’s local digital sales strategy, sales enablement,  expansion of local sales products, as well as training and talent development and driving station-level and  groupwide revenue growth. 

“Lisa has established herself as a deeply experienced leader in digital sales and she understands keenly  the nature of the rapidly evolving digital landscape,” said Alford. “She has been successful everywhere  at growing ad revenue and profit, and knows how to build highly effective, collaborative sales teams. Her  time at Amazon gave her a window into the digital space that will prove to be invaluable, and she will be  a great asset to Nexstar.” 

Prior to her work with Amazon, Taylor held sales and marketing leadership positions of increasing  responsibility with Meredith Corporation, where she served as vice president of digital revenue from  2018 to 2022, overseeing sales for the company’s $1.8 billion Local Media Group. From 2016 to 2018, Taylor was director, digital Sales for Meredith.

Commenting on her appointment, Taylor said, “I’m grateful to Nexstar for giving me this opportunity  and I’m looking forward to working with the digital teams across the company’s television stations.  Nexstar’s scale and its unique portfolio of assets positions the company to offer a variety of digital and  cross-platform advertising solutions which can be customized to suit the needs of any client—that gives  Nexstar a distinct advantage over its competitors.” 

Taylor has been deeply involved in media industry and community organizations throughout her  career. She currently serves as a mentor for Veterati, which supports and guides veterans and military  spouses to rewarding careers. While at Amazon, she was a member of Amazon Warriors, working with  veterans and their spouses, and Amazon Women, promoting programs related to recruitment, inclusion,  and diversity. She is a past member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. 

Taylor earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from DePauw University and her MBA from  the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 

As Amazon celebrates the 10th anniversary of the launch of the first Fire TV devices in 2014, the company has unveiled new AI-powered search capabilities for the devices. 

The new Fire TV search experience has begun to roll out to customers in the U.S. in English on select Fire TV devices running FOS6 and later. It will be available on all eligible Fire TV devices in the U.S. in the coming weeks.

Citing studies that the average streaming customer now spends more than 10 minutes searching for options each time they access their streaming services, the company noted that the Fire TV’s new AI-enhanced search combines artificial intelligence with Fire TV's extensive entertainment content and app library, enabling users to find personalized TV show and movie recommendations using natural language.

“You can ask Alexa to search for streaming content recommendations in the same way you might ask a friend with encyclopedic knowledge about TV shows and movies, using complex or nuanced language to ask for options based on topic, genre, plot, character, actor, and even by quotes,” Amazon reported in a how-to-use the new features guide.

The new Fire TV search experience is powered by an Amazon-built large language model (LLM), which enables customers to ask Alexa for personalized TV show and movie recommendations using natural language. These recommendations are contextual, personalized for users, and will include choices from their Prime Video or other streaming subscription libraries, so users know which ones are free. 

More information on the 10th anniversary is available here; more information on the new search features can be found here.  

LOS ANGELES—MGM Alternative, a division of Amazon MGM Studios, and the Global Esports Federation have announced a deal to work together to create content relating to Global Esports Games, esports athletes, and the gaming lifestyle. 

MGM Alternative already produces The Voice, Shark Tank, and Survivor, and GEF, which promotes the credibility, legitimacy, and prestige of esports globally. 

The new agreement will involve the creation of new linear and streaming content, as well as live events within GEF's esports conventions and events, the companies said. 

Esports has experienced significant growth and success in recent years, with the global esports market estimated at $4.2 billion in 2024. Statista estimates that growth is set to continue with a CAGR of 7.10% between 2024 and 2028.

"With the global interest in esports at an all-time high, we're eager to share the stories and excitement surrounding the Global Esports Games, their athletes, and the gaming lifestyle," said Barry Poznick, general manager, MGM Alternative. "This is the beginning of an epic collaboration with the Global Esports Federation to develop content that appeals to the worldwide audience of gamers and non-gamers alike."

"We are thrilled to unite with MGM Alternative to unlock the incredible potential of esports. This collaboration will amplify the voices of diverse esports athletes, showcasing their compelling stories to the world. Together, Global Esports and MGM Alternative will provide an innovative platform that will power growth and value for the world's esports community," said Paul J. Foster, chief executive officer, Global Esports Federation.

Sinclair said this week it has inked a financing deal with its bankrupt Diamond Sports Group that would allow the RSN to continue operations. 

The “Restructuring Support Agreement” will see Sinclair pay $495 million to Diamond—which declared bankruptcy in 2023 with more than $9 billion in debt spread across its 19 Bally Sports regional sports networks. The payment will settle a $1.5 billion lawsuit filed by Diamond against Sinclair last summer in which the company was seeking to retrieve up to $1.5 billion in management fees it paid to Sinclair following Sinclair’s acquisition of Fox’s 19 RSNs (under the “Bally Sports Group” brand) from Disney.

Sinclair said that $496 million payment could result in a net cost to Sinclair of $250 million to $325 million. 

The new agreement includes a $115 million minority investment from Amazon whose Prime Video streaming service will become the new home to Diamond’s “Bally Sports Plus” D2C apps. The cash infusion will allow Diamond to pay $350 million to its creditors, emerge from bankruptcy and continue to operate the RSNs independently.

David Preschlack, CEO of Diamond stated: "We are thrilled to have reached a comprehensive restructuring agreement that provides a detailed framework for a reorganization plan and substantial new financing that will enable Diamond to operate and thrive beyond 2024. 

"We are grateful for the support from Amazon and a group of our largest creditors who clearly believe in the value-creating potential of this business," Preschlack continued. "Diamond's near-term focus will be on implementing the RSA and emerging from bankruptcy as a going concern for the benefit of our investors, our employees, our team, league and distribution partners, and the millions of fans who will continue to enjoy our broadcasts."

The agreement—which is subject to court approval—is a sign of the new reality in which regional sports networks, which have suffered declining ratings due to the increase in subscribers cutting the pay TV cord over the years now will operate in a hybrid fashion with Amazon, according to one observer.

“Diamond was paying over $2 billion indeed to the leagues. The RSNs can’t generate enough revenue for the teams only being on cable,” one source familiar with the talks told TV Tech sister brand NextTV. “They definitely can’t go exclusively DTC. Diamond will be able to make money on cable, make money on DTC with streaming and put a number of games on broadcast, some on Sinclair stations.”. 

In the race to grow the biggest subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) customer base before the start of the next decade, Netflix is the odds-on favorite, according to a newly released forecast from Digital TV Research.

The forecast, part of the research organization’s “SVOD Forecasts Update” report estimates Netflix will maintain its top spot among SVOD services by adding 44 million subscribers between 2023 and 2029, taking its total to 298 million.

Amazon will see its Amazon Prime subscriber base grow to 269 million, and Disney+ will garner 192 million subscribers in 2029 as a result of less investment and uptake in the Asia-Pacific region, assuming that Hotstar will continue as part of the Disney stable, the researcher said.  

They will be followed by Paramount+ at 89 million, HBO at 68 million and Apple TV+ at 30 million, according to the forecast. Together the six U.S.-based SVOD platforms will have 946 million subscribers by 2029, up from 751 million this year. Collectively, they will increase their subscriber numbers by 196 million, it said.

The increase reflects the forecasted strength in SVOD growth around the world during the period with total subscriptions growing 321 million by 2029 to 1.79 billion, it said.

In the United States, SVOD subscribers will climb by 30 million to 148 million in 2029, and China will nearly reach the 400 million subscriber level, it found. 

The report is available online from Digital TV Research. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. —The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general have sued Amazon.com, Inc. alleging that the online retail and technology company is a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power. 

The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.  

It is part of a larger crackdown on big tech by the Biden administration that has seen lawsuits against Google and Meta as well as Amazon. 

This lawsuit focuses on Amazon’s online retail operations and follows a June FTC lawsuit against Amazon that alleged it knowingly "duped millions of consumers" into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime.” 

The newest complaint alleges that Amazon engages in exclusionary conduct that stifled competition on price, product selection and quality. That conduct prevented current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging, the FTC said in a press release. 

The FTC also alleged that “Amazon’s far-reaching schemes impact hundreds of billions of dollars in retail sales every year, touch hundreds of thousands of products sold by businesses big and small and affect over a hundred million shoppers.” 

“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” said FTC chair Lina M. Khan. “The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them. Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition.”

“We’re bringing this case because Amazon’s illegal conduct has stifled competition across a huge swath of the online economy. Amazon is a monopolist that uses its power to hike prices on American shoppers and charge sky-high fees on hundreds of thousands of online sellers,” said John Newman, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Seldom in the history of U.S. antitrust law has one case had the potential to do so much good for so many people.”

The FTC and the states are seeking a permanent injunction in federal court that would prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and pry loose Amazon’s monopolistic control to restore competition.

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin joined the Commission’s lawsuit. 

The FTC and states allege Amazon’s anti-competitive conduct occurs in two markets—the online superstore market that serves shoppers and the market for online marketplace services purchased by sellers. That anti-competitive conduct includes:

• Anti-discounting measures that punish sellers and deter other online retailers from offering prices lower than Amazon, keeping prices higher for products across the internet. For example, if Amazon discovers that a seller is offering lower-priced goods elsewhere, Amazon can bury discounting sellers so far down in Amazon’s search results that they become effectively invisible, the lawsuit alleged. 
• Conditioning sellers’ ability to obtain “Prime” eligibility for their products—a virtual necessity for doing business on Amazon—on sellers using Amazon’s costly fulfillment service, which has made it substantially more expensive for sellers on Amazon to also offer their products on other platforms. This unlawful coercion has in turn limited competitors’ ability to effectively compete against Amazon, the lawsuit alleged..

With its amassed power across both the online superstore market and online marketplace services market, the lawsuit also alleged that Amazon "extracts enormous monopoly rents from everyone within its reach." This includes:

• Degrading the customer experience by replacing relevant, organic search results with paid advertisements—and deliberately increasing junk ads that worsen search quality and frustrate both shoppers seeking products and sellers who are promised a return on their advertising purchase, the lawsuit said. 
• Biasing Amazon’s search results to preference Amazon’s own products over ones that Amazon knows are of better quality, the lawsuit said.
• Charging costly fees on the hundreds of thousands of sellers that currently have no choice but to rely on Amazon to stay in business. These fees range from a monthly fee sellers must pay for each item sold, to advertising fees that have become virtually necessary for sellers to do business. Combined, all of these fees force many sellers to pay close to 50% of their total revenues to Amazon. These fees harm not only sellers but also shoppers, who pay increased prices for thousands of products sold on or off Amazon, the lawsuit said. 

SEATTLE—As part of a larger push into generative AI, Amazon has announced a strategic collaboration with Anthropic that will see Amazon invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic.

The companies said that the strategic collaboration will bring together their respective technology and expertise in safer generative artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the development of Anthropic’s future foundation models and make them widely accessible to AWS customers.

As part of the agreement, Anthropic will use AWS as its primary cloud provider and use AWS’s chips to develop future foundation models for generative AI. 

“We have tremendous respect for Anthropic’s team and foundation models, and believe we can help improve many customer experiences, short and long-term, through our deeper collaboration,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO. “Customers are quite excited about Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s new managed service that enables companies to use various foundation models to build generative AI applications on top of, as well as AWS Trainium, AWS’s AI training chip, and our collaboration with Anthropic should help customers get even more value from these two capabilities.”

 An AWS customer since 2021, Anthropic has grown quickly into one of the world’s leading foundation model providers for generative AI and a leading advocate for the responsible deployment of generative AI, the companies said. 

Anthropic's foundation model, Claude, works on a wide range of tasks, from sophisticated dialogue and creative content generation to complex reasoning and detailed instruction, while maintaining a high degree of reliability and predictability, the companies said. 

“We are excited to use AWS’s Trainium chips to develop future foundation models,” said Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic. “Since announcing our support of Amazon Bedrock in April, Claude has seen significant organic adoption from AWS customers. By significantly expanding our partnership, we can unlock new possibilities for organizations of all sizes, as they deploy Anthropic’s safe, state-of-the-art AI systems together with AWS’s leading cloud technology.”

As part of the expanded collaboration:

• Anthropic will use AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips to build, train, and deploy its future foundation models, benefitting from the price, performance, scale, and security of AWS. The two companies will also collaborate in the development of future Trainium and Inferentia technology.
• AWS will become Anthropic’s primary cloud provider for mission critical workloads, including safety research and future foundation model development. Anthropic plans to run the majority of its workloads on AWS, further providing Anthropic with the advanced technology of the world’s leading cloud provider.
• Anthropic makes a long-term commitment to provide AWS customers around the world with access to future generations of its foundation models via Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s fully managed service that provides secure access to the industry’s top foundation models. In addition, Anthropic will provide AWS customers with early access to unique features for model customization and fine-tuning capabilities.
• Amazon will invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic and have a minority ownership position in the company.
• Amazon developers and engineers will be able to build with Anthropic models via Amazon Bedrock so they can incorporate generative AI capabilities into their work, enhance existing applications, and create net-new customer experiences across Amazon’s businesses.

Amazon reported that the collaboration is only the latest AWS generative AI announcement and that the company continues to expand its unique offering at all three layers of the generative AI stack. 

At the bottom layer, AWS continues to offer compute instances from NVIDIA as well as AWS’s own custom silicon chips, AWS Trainium for AI training and AWS Inferentia for AI inference. At the middle layer, AWS is focused on providing customers with the broadest selection of foundation models from multiple leading providers where customers can then customize those models, keep their own data private and secure, and seamlessly integrate with the rest of their AWS workloads—all of this is offered through AWS’s new service, Amazon Bedrock. 

The Anthropic agreement means that customers will have early access to features for customizing Anthropic models, using their own proprietary data to create their own private models, and will be able to utilize fine-tuning capabilities via a self-service feature within Amazon Bedrock. At the top layer, AWS offers generative AI applications and services for customers like Amazon CodeWhisperer, a powerful AI-powered coding companion, which recommends code snippets directly in the code editor, accelerating developer productivity as they code.

As part of this deeper collaboration, AWS and Anthropic are committing meaningful resources that are helping customers get started with Claude and Claude 2 on Amazon Bedrock, including through the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center, where teams of AI experts will help customers of all sizes to develop new generative AI-powered applications to transform their organizations, the companies said. 

In addition, Amazon reported that customers accessing Anthropic’s current models via Amazon Bedrock are already building generative AI-powered applications that help automate tasks such as producing market forecasts, developing research reports, enabling new drug discovery for healthcare, and personalizing education programs. 

Enterprises already taking advantage of this advanced technology include Lonely Planet, a premier travel media company celebrated for its decades of travel content; Bridgewater Associates, a premier asset management firm for global institutional investors; and LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a top-tier global provider of information and analytics serving customers in more than 150 countries.

“We are developing a generative AI solution on AWS to help customers plan epic trips and create life-changing experiences with personalized travel itineraries,” said Chris Whyde, senior vice president of Engineering and Data Science at Lonely Planet. “By building with Claude 2 on Amazon Bedrock, we reduced itinerary generation costs by nearly 80 percent when we quickly created a scalable, secure AI platform that organizes our book content in minutes to deliver cohesive, highly accurate travel recommendations. Now we can re-package and personalize our content in various ways on our digital platforms, based on customer preference, all while highlighting trusted local voices–just like Lonely Planet has done for 50 years.”

The companies also said that they are working with a number of organizations to promote the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) AI working groups, the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), the Partnership on AI, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Responsible AI Institute. 

In July, both Amazon and Anthropic joined President Biden and other industry leaders at the White House to show their support for a set of voluntary commitments to foster the safe, secure, responsible, and effective development of AI technology. These commitments are a continuation of work that both Amazon and Anthropic have been doing to support the safety, security, and responsible development and deployment of AI and will continue through this expanded collaboration.

SEATTLE—Following a streaming industry-wide trend towards inundating viewers with more advertising on streaming media, Amazon’s Prime Video has announced plans to add advertising in 2024 to its previously ad-free offering of movies and TV shows. 

Prime subscribers, who already pay $14.99 a month or $139 a year for an annual subscription, will have the option of paying an additional $2.99 a month to avoid the ads. 

Traditionally Prime Video has not shown ads on its main movies and TV offering but has included ads on Thursday Night Football and Amazon’s free-ad-supported streaming service Freevee. 

Prime Video had a 3.4% share of total TV viewing in August and the addition of ads to its vast library of content could produce significant revenue. 

Amazon spent about $16.6 billion on content in 2022. 

The company said the ad load would be less than that of linear TV, where ad loads excluding promos, typically run 13 to 15 minutes on broadcast TV and cable. 

In a blog post, the company noted that they have invested heavily in is Prime Video, which “offers a vast selection of movies and series, including Amazon Originals, and live sports….To continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time, starting in early 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. Ads in Prime Video content will be introduced in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year. No action is required for Prime members. We’re not making changes in 2024 to the current price of Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month* for U.S. Prime members and will share pricing for other countries at a later date. We will email Prime members several weeks before ads are introduced into Prime Video with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option if they would like.”

SEATTLE—Amazon has unveiled its most powerful Fire TV Sticks and has brought generative AI technologies to its Fire TV family with the introduction of enhanced conversational voice search using generative AI.

In addition to the all new Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which offers more speed, support for Wi-Fi 6E, and 2x the storage for $59.99, Amazon said that the use of generative AI will improve search and discovery capabilities.

"With a world of content at your fingertips, sometimes the hardest thing to do is decide what to watch. Fire TV has always been great at search, but generative AI takes it to a whole new level,” said Tapas Roy, vice president of Fire TV. “We've leveraged our new large language model to create a much more natural and conversational way to find content using natural dialogue. Simply ask Alexa nuanced or even open-ended questions about anything from genres and actors, to storylines and scenes, and enter a conversation that will find you something new based on what you like—even if you don’t know what you’re looking for.”

The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the first streaming media player to come with the Fire TV Ambient Experience, and features an upgraded 2.0 GHz quad-core processor, making it Amazon’s smartest and most powerful streaming stick yet. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is also the industry’s first streaming stick to include support for Wi-Fi 6E, meaning customers with a compatible router can enjoy the smoothest streaming experience with lower latency, faster speeds, and less interference from other Wi-Fi-enabled devices in the home.

With ultra-cinematic, vibrant 4K Ultra HD, and support for Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10+, and immersive Dolby Atmos audio, Amazon said that the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max delivers Fire TV Stick’s best visual and audio experience yet. Fire TV Stick 4K Max also features 16GB of storage, doubling the previous generation’s capacity, and enabling customers to store even more apps and games directly on the device.

In addition, the company announced the new Fire TV Stick 4K, which delivers Fire TV Stick’s best performance yet for under $50. It introduces support for Wi-Fi 6 and features an updated 1.7 GHZ quad-core processor, making it nearly 30% more powerful than the previous generation. Customers can enjoy vibrant 4K Ultra HD picture quality and immersive Dolby Atmos audio with support for Dolby Vision, HDR, HLG, and HDR10+. Plus, with Alexa Home Theater, customers can wirelessly connect compatible Echo devices, for audio across multiple speakers and inputs.

Amazon has also announced a number of improvements to the Fire TV experience, most notably adding generative AI features to voice search. 

The upgraded Fire TV experience materially enhances search, browse, and recommendations by combining generative AI with Fire TV's extensive entertainment content and app library—enabling customers to find and discover content in a natural, contextual, and conversational way. 

The upgrade allows customers to ask Alexa nuanced or open-ended questions about TV shows and movies, helping them find what they’re looking for using natural and conversational language. Customers can ask Alexa to find content based on specific actors, directors, scenes, genres, or entitlements such as “action movies with car chases,” “comedies for a rainy day inside,” or “animated movies that are free to me.” Customers can also simply tell Alexa what they are in the mood to watch, and choose from a selection of recommendations personalized to their Fire TV profiles.

In addition to generative AI in voice search, a new “Continue Watching” row will include content from leading streaming entertainment providers including Amazon Freevee, Disney+, Hulu, Max, MGM+, Peacock, STARZ, and Tubi. The new row puts recently watched content front and center, with a focus on recency, making it easy for customers to find and stream their favorite content. Fire TV will continue to add content from streaming providers over time. The generative AI-powered voice search and new “Continue Watching” row will roll out to customers in the U.S. later this year.

Other announcements included: 

• New Fire TV Device Bundle—Access thousands of movies and original series with six months of MGM+, on Amazon
• All-New Fire TV Soundbar—Bold sound, easy setup, and a compact design, for $119.99
• Sustainable Design. The all-new Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Soundbar carry the Climate Pledge Friendly badge by achieving the Carbon Trust’s Reducing CO2 certifications. 

In terms of pricing and availability, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is available for pre-order today on Amazon.com for $59.99. The all-new Fire TV Stick 4K is available for pre-order today on Amazon.com for $49.99. The brand-new Fire TV Soundbar is available today for $119.99.

 NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES—The Latino-owned entertainment company Fuse Media has announced that it is continuing to expand the reach of its Fuse+ subscription streaming service by making it available on Amazon’s Prime Video. 

The launch on Prime Video is an expansion of Fuse Media’s existing relationships with Amazon, which has already launched Fuse FAST channels Shades of Black, Backstage, Latino Vibes, and OutTV Proud on Amazon Freevee. 

“To continue our partnership with Amazon bringing Fuse+ to Prime Video subscribers is another testament to Fuse Media’s appeal to young, culturally diverse viewers eager for vibrant, authentic representations of their own lives on any screen they watch,” said Fuse Media chairman and CEO Miguel Roggero. “We look forward to building on this already successful partnership with Amazon, allowing us to share our award-winning, inclusive programming with even more audiences.”

Launched in 2021, Fuse+ features over 500 hours of original scripted and unscripted programming, Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentaries and films. 

"We are excited to work with Fuse Media,” said Ammon Lyle, manager of content acquisition, Prime Video. “Fuse+ has a diverse selection of content and an amazing track record of introducing audiences to new voices."

In 2022, Fuse+ experienced triple-digit growth in subscribers globally, building off a distribution base that includes Roku, Comcast’s Xfinity X1and OTTPlay in India, the company said. 

SEATTLE—Amazon has introduced a new lineup of Echo products—the all-new Echo Pop, Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 5 Kids, and Echo Buds—and announced that more than a half a billion Alexa-enabled devices have been sold. 

“Customers around the world love Alexa as their trusted, personal AI—they’ve now purchased well over half a billion Alexa-enabled devices, and use of Alexa increased 35 percent last year,” said Rohit Prasad, senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa. “These new devices give customers more options and more utility at incredible value. And as with every Echo device we’ve shipped, they will only continue to get better as we add even more generative AI powered experiences for Alexa throughout the year.”

The new devices include: 

• Echo Pop is a new addition to the Echo family with a semi-sphere form factor, and new Lavender Bloom and Midnight Teal color options for just $39.99.
• Echo Show 5 combines the utility of Alexa, with the convenience of a compact screen so customers can watch news clips, check their Ring doorbell camera, view shopping lists, or easily make video calls to friends and family. 
• Echo Show 5 Kids is designed from the ground up for kids, with kid-friendly responses, jokes, homework help, explicit lyric filtering, and more—in a new colorful space-themed design. 
• Echo Buds bring personal AI on the go, featuring a semi-in-ear design that is built to deliver rich audio, long-lasting battery life, premium features, and hands-free access to Alexa for just $49.99. 
• Echo Auto is now available to customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom. 

Echo Pop is available in Charcoal, Glacier White, Lavender Bloom, and Midnight Teal for $39.99. Echo Show 5 is available in Charcoal, Glacier White, and Cloud Blue for $89.99. Echo Show 5 Kids is available in Galaxy for $99.99. An adjustable Echo Show 5 stand with USB-C charging port is available for $26.99. Echo Buds are available in Black for $49.99. 

More information is available here. 

NEW YORK—The NFL and Amazon Prime Video have announced that first-ever NFL Black Friday game on November 24 will feature a classic AFC East showdown between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins. 

Fans can stream the NFL Black Friday game for free from the web at amazon.com or by using the Prime Video app, which is available on streaming devices, connected TVs, game consoles, phones, tablets, and set-top boxes, and on phones and tablets with NFL+.

Each Thursday Night Football game also streams live on Twitch and is available on over-the-air TV stations in the two home markets of the competing teams, as well as in Spanish language on Prime Video. 

“We’re excited to be the home of the first-ever NFL Black Friday game, and what better way to kick off this new tradition than with a rivalry matchup between the Dolphins and the Jets,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video, Amazon. “On one of the biggest shopping days of the year, we’re thrilled to offer another way to delight Amazon customers, and give all fans free access to this AFC East showdown.”

Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. EST, with Special Black Friday Football pre- and postgame coverage live and on-site from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 

Amazon said the complete 2023 Thursday Night Football schedule will be released Thursday, May 11.

Black Friday coverage will feature the familiar faces of Thursday Night Football’s on-air team, including Emmy winners Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit, and reporter Kaylee Hartung on the game crew. 

Charissa Thompson will serve as host for pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage, with Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Super Bowl champion Andrew Whitworth as analysts, along with features reporter Taylor Rooks and news analyst Michael Smith. 

Thursday Night Football’s production team was recently recognized with five Sports Emmy Nominations for its 2022 coverage, including Outstanding Live Series, in its inaugural season, Amazon reported. 

LAS VEGAS—Amazon Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is widely known as perhaps the most expensive and lavishly produced series in the history of television and streaming media. But a NAB Show session, “A Case Study: Color and Finishing in the Cloud,” also highlighted how the program’s pioneering cloud-based collaboration tools promise to revolutionize production processes in years ahead for many other series, large and small.

During the session, Jesse Kobayashi, co-founder of The Modern Film Consortium and VFX producer on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, discussed how Blackmagic Design, Company 3 and Amazon Web Services (AWS) collaborated to create an entirely cloud-based infrastructure for conform, color-grading and to deliver the show.

”This technology has done something that’s important,” Kobayashi said. “It’s democratized storytelling. What’s so amazing about being here at NAB Show and speaking to you about our experiences in creating The Rings of Power is that when you walk the floor, you now see these tools available to all of us and to shows of all sizes. That is really exciting.”

While the results of these technologies can now be applied to productions large and small, which are being exhibited by vendors like Blackmagic Design and AWS, much of the original development work for the cloud-based production tools was designed to handle a production of mind-boggling scale and complexity. 

“We had 186 hours of 4K camera dailies,” Kobayashi said. “We tracked over 9,164 visual effects shots. And we delivered more than 480 minutes of blockbuster action to Amazon Studios from a production that involved 12 global VFX vendors spanning three continents around the world.

“We knew we needed a modern solution in order to deliver a show like this,” he said. “Working with the team at Amazon, they knew the answer for this was going to be leveraging the cloud in a way to bring together this global workforce in an efficient way.”

To do that, they set up a Pixstor storage solution in Auckland, New Zealand, and had 100-Gbps connections between two studios in Auckland. These were connected to AWS cloud storage in Sydney, Australia. Finally, they created a pioneering camera in the cloud system to deliver footage securely to AWS by working with Rebel Fleet in New Zealand.

“This gave us the flexibility, the automation and the protection that we needed to feel safe that our most important asset or camera negative was being stored securely,” he said.

To develop a system so all the creatives around the world could collaborate, they turned to Blackmagic Design — already an integral part of the production, supplying equipment and software — and the post-production firm Company 3.

Blackmagic Design worked closely with Company 3’s dedicated engineering team to facilitate the creation of what would be essentially a post-production studio in the cloud, with color-precise High Dynamic Range (HDR) monitoring synced live at each location. Based on AWS architecture, the solution allows media to be manipulated and conformed in the cloud as if all involved were in the same location, using local storage to hold the media.

Looking ahead, Kobayashi is already working on some new projects using these tools. But companies need to pay attention to a number of new requirements if they want to take full advantage of them, he stressed.

“Understanding the importance of interconnectivity and having the right people when it comes to IT staff, asset management and storage, is crucial,” Kobayashi said. “Those things need to be as much of a standard part of production as having trucks and food on the set.”

SEATTLE—Amazon has surpassed a significant sales milestone for its Amazon Fire TV products, with more than 200 million Fire TV devices sold globally, as it announced a notable expansion of its Amazon-built TV family of smart TVs. 

The Amazon-built TV lineup will now include three new sizes of the Fire TV Omni QLED Series lineup, which includes the Fire TV Ambient Experience. 

In addition it is introducing the affordable Fire TV 2-Series which starts at just $199.99 and is launching its Amazon-built TVs in more countries, bringing the Omni QLED Series, Fire TV 4-Series, and the new Fire TV 2-Series to the United Kingdom, Germany, and Mexico for the first time.

“We continue to hear from customers that most smart TVs just aren’t all that smart—and they’re turning to Fire TV to deliver a truly intelligent and intuitive TV experience,” said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services. “With over 200 million streaming players and smart TVs sold globally, our relentless focus on making TVs actually smart is resonating with customers around the world. In fact, televisions are the fastest growing segment in the Fire TV business. When customers love something, we double down. We’re excited to not only bring our Fire TV Ambient Experience to more rooms of the home with multiple new screen sizes of the Omni QLED Series, but also to enable customers to get a Fire TV smart TV for as low as $199.99 with the new 2-Series. We can’t wait to hear what customers think.”

Amazon announced that its Fire TV Omni QLED Series—with the Fire TV Ambient Experience—will now be available in three new sizes: 43”, 50”, and 55”. With new smaller sizes, customers can enjoy the Ambient Experience in any space, in any room. The Omni QLED features a 4K Quantum Dot Technology (QLED) display with full-array local dimming of up to 96 zones, plus support for both Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive providing an immersive, cinematic experience. The lineup also features built-in far-field technology, enabling customers to find apps, discover shows, manage playback, and control the Ambient Experience hands-free with Alexa from anywhere in the room.

In addition Amazon is introducing the Omni QLED’s Fire TV Ambient Experience that transforms the TV into an always-smart device. When not streaming, the Omni QLED Series uses built-in presence sensors to detect when a person enters the room to intelligently switch to the Ambient Experience, which uses the power of Alexa to display helpful information. With the Ambient Experience, customers can see glanceable information like their schedule with Calendars and Reminders, leave Sticky Notes for family members, control smart devices like a thermostat or Ring doorbell, play audio from services like Amazon Music, Spotify, and others—and much more.

With no monthly subscription required, the Omni QLED Series can also turn the TV into an in-home art gallery, Amazon reported, with its collection of more than1,700 free gallery-quality pieces of artwork. The collection has been expanded from famous institutions like The National Gallery of Art and The Art Institute of Chicago to include pieces from the National Galleries of Scotland, National Museum of Wales, Munich’s Pinakothek of the Modern, and more.

The new Fire TV 2-Series have prices starting at just $199.99, Amazon also noted. The all-new Fire TV 2-Series features 32” and 40” sizes, designed for all rooms and sizes like the family room, kitchen, or bedroom. The Fire TV 2-Series 32” brings movies and shows to life in HD resolution, while the Fire TV 2-Series 40” offers enhanced clarity and detail with FHD. 

The Fire TV 2-Series lineup includes support for HDR 10, HLG, and Dolby Digital Audio and are available on March 22. 

In terms of accessibility, Amazon reported that Fire TV supports the open-source Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocol. In 2022, the Fire TV Cube (2nd Gen) became the first-ever streaming media player in the United States to support ASHA through a collaboration with hearing aid company Starkey. 

Less than a year later, Fire TV streaming media players and smart TVs became the first streaming TV devices to stream sound directly to a hearing implant sound processor through Fire TV’s work with Cochlear, the global leader in implantable hearing solutions. 

In addition, the Fire TV Omni QLED Series, Fire TV 4-Series, and Fire TV 2-Series support ASHA. 

Customers with compatible Starkey Bluetooth hearing aids or Cochlear hearing implant sound processors can connect directly with these Amazon-built TVs to enjoy audio from their favorite streaming apps, use Alexa, listen to music, hear navigational sounds, and more. 

The new Fire TV Omni QLED Series 43”, 50”, and 55” sizes are available for pre-order on March 22 starting at $449.99 at Amazon and will be available for purchase at BestBuy.com starting May 11th. The brand-new Fire TV 2-Series will be available in 32” and 40” starting at $199.99 at Amazon starting March 22. 

NEW YORK—Publica, a CTV ad-server owned by Integral Ad Science, had announced that they will be joining the new, global Amazon Publisher Services (APS) Ad Server Certification Program for streaming TV.

Publica's upcoming certification will allow publishers to implement a simplified APS header bidding integration, enabling publishers to conduct a unified auction across all advertiser bids, the companies explained. This technology has the power to improve viewer experience by limiting repetitive ads while also increasing publisher yield, Publica noted. 

When deciding where to spend streaming TV dollars, advertisers often prefer publishers with header bidding solutions, as it creates the opportunity to compete on a level playing field for inventory to help maximize campaign reach and effectiveness. Once Publica is certified by APS, advertisers will receive incremental access to header bidding supply via the new APS and Publica integration. This can also result in more opportunities for publishers to deliver private marketplace deals from CTV advertisers, Publica reported. 

"We are excited to bring incremental demand from APS to the growing number of publishers and TV manufacturers who are now adopting the Publica ad server to help them grow their advertising revenues. Publica empowers publishers to create intelligent ad breaks that can be optimized on a revenue per second basis, all while improving their viewer's streaming experiences with seamless ad delivery," said Publica chief revenue officer Sean Galligan.

Going forward, Publica and APS plan to provide global publishers with a full roadmap of new features for streaming TV ad serving, including simplified setup of private marketplace deals, the provision of forecasting tools within the Publica user interface, simplified access to interactive ad formats and seamless integration of third-party technology vendors, the companies added. 

LONDON—Subscription OTT services’ spending on sports rights globally will reach record levels in 2023, hitting $8.5 billion, a 64% spike from 2022 according to a new report from Ampere Analysis’ Sports analyzing the role of sports in the streaming wars.

The research also predicts that the share of spend on sports rights by streaming platforms will increase in 2023 to reach 21% of global sports rights investment, up from 13% in 2022.

This marks a major change in how streaming services spend their programming budgets. The researchers noted that subscription OTT services’ spend on sports rights has lagged behind their investments in original TV and film. In 2022, 28% of original content spending was from streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+. 

However, as streaming technology has improved, and as fans increasingly expect to be able to stream their favorite sports, the sports streaming model finally took off. At the same time, the challenging economic outlook for traditional sports broadcasters – such as pay TV channels, ad-funded commercial channels and public service broadcasters – incentivizes rights owners to appeal to streaming platforms in order to achieve media rights growth.

Leading the way for streaming platforms’ growing investment in sports rights, particularly in Europe, is DAZN. The global OTT sports streaming service accounted for more than half (54%) of all subscription OTT services’ spend on sports rights in 2022, Ampere reported. 

However, recent years have seen an acceleration in sports rights spend by general entertainment services – such as Peacock and Viaplay – as service providers look to differentiate from peers in an increasingly crowded market. General entertainment services accounted for six of the top 10 subscription OTT services by global spend on sports rights in 2022, the report found.

The exclusive NFL deal with Amazon that kicked off in September 2022 was arguably the turning point for sports on general entertainment OTT platforms. It represented  the largest single deal signed to-date by any sports streaming service, and has since been surpassed only by YouTube – also with the NFL.

“The transition to streaming will take longer for sports than for other genres," explained Jack Genovese, research manager at Ampere Analysis. "This is in part because of the nature of sports rights deals, which typically span multiple years. It is also due to the sheer value of sports rights, and the sensitivities characterizing the distribution and consumption of sport. The need for high quality, low latency feeds will continue to favor risk-averse behavior among broadcasters and rights owners alike. However, streaming will offer opportunities for sports to experiment with content, distribution and monetization, which will revolutionize the way in which sports rights are sold and bought in the future."

Ampere’s research uses the media analyst’s latest suite of data products: Sports – Media Rights, which tracks data on sports TV rights in the largest markets around the world, and Sports – Consumer, a regular series of consumer interviews covering sports fans in 12 countries around the world.

NEEDHAM, Mass.—Economic uncertainties helped push worldwide tablet and Chromebook shipments sharply lower in Q3 2022 compared to a year earlier according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The data showed that worldwide tablet shipments were down 8.8% year over year in Q3 2022, totaling 38.6 million units, and that Chromebook shipments fell to 4.3 million units, a year-over-year decline of 34.4%. 

Both markets have now shifted from supply constrained industries to ones that are demand challenged as consumer and education spending has slowed in the face of economic uncertainties, the IDC reported. 

IDC analysts also reported that Chinese vendors continue to do well in emerging markets where there is low-end demand and that sanctions from many vendors also enabled Chinese vendors like Huawei to perform well in the Russian market. 

Meanwhile, the emergence of low-priced Chinese OEMs like Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo and others, has fueled strong competition in the lower range devices. However, these gains still couldn't offset the decline experienced by the main tablet vendors.

Apple led in worldwide tablet shipments with 14.5 million units, a 37.5% market share, followed by Samsung (7.1 million shipments and a 18.4% share) and Amazon (4.3 million shipments and a 11.1% market share) in Q3 2022. 

"After massive growth in 2020 and 2021, a decline in the tablet market was expected in 2022. The market is now experiencing not only a slowdown in demand, but also some strong macro-economic headwinds. Even though most tablets (Android) and Chromebooks are lower cost, we're now seeing buyer concerns even at the low end. This is largely driven by these rising economic concerns," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, tablets have found many more use cases since the pandemic, from their role in the workspace to both in-person and remote learning, entertainment, and even digital transformations across various verticals."

"Chromebooks face a number of challenges in the industry, not all of which are because of limitations to the platform," said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers. "We firmly believe Chromebooks will continue to play a fundamental role in personal computing, and ultimately grow in presence compared to other existing platforms. But the growth will continue to be tempered as the industry adapts to this new environment we are all living in. We have seen many of the large PC brands prioritize around opportunities within the Windows PC space, and without their support from the supply side the Chrome market will continue to move rather slowly."

NEW YORK—Amazon and the National Football League (NFL) have announced that in 2023, Prime Video will exclusively stream a newly scheduled “Black Friday” game the Friday after Thanksgiving Day on November 24, 2023 at 3 p.m. EST. 

The participating teams for the first-ever Black Friday game will be announced when the 2023 schedule is released. 

"Thanksgiving is synonymous with football, and we’re excited to give our fans another day of NFL action during this holiday weekend," said Hans Schroeder, chief operating officer for NFL Media. "Amazon is uniquely positioned to partner with us for this game as ‘Black Friday’ is one of the most important days of the year for their business."

“Thursday Night Football has already proven tremendously successful on Prime Video, delivering millions of viewers every week, and we’re excited to expand our relationship with the NFL with the inaugural ‘Black Friday’ game, starting next year,” said Jay Marine, global head of sports, Prime Video. “’Black Friday’ is the unofficial start of the holiday season, and we’re thrilled to kick it off with a gift for football fans across the country with this new game.”

Amazon also reported that the first five games of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged 10.8 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. 

The games are up +48% from the first five TNF games in 2021 among viewers in the hard-to-reach adult 18-34 demographic, and up +25% in adults 18-49.

LOS ANGELES—MGM’s premium EPIX service has announced that it will be relaunching and rebranding as MGM+ in January 2023. 

EPIX is available as a premium channel via pay TV services as well as an ad-free streaming service. 

“MGM is one of the most iconic and beloved brands from the golden age of entertainment,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “This rebrand is a promise to existing and new viewers that MGM+ is the place to find television that reflects and celebrates the legacy of the iconic MGM brand – cinematic programming with sophisticated storytelling that entertains, delights, surprises, and transports. MGM is television for movie lovers.” 

The new brand will debut on January 15, 2023, in conjunction with the Season Three premiere of the series “Godfather of Harlem”. The show’s second season was EPIX’s best performing season of all time, breaking records for single-title streams in a single day across EPIX’s digital channels, the company reported. The Season Two finale was EPIX’s best performing finale episode to date. 

In conjunction with the rebrand, the service also announced that it had greenlit a number of new series, including crime thriller “Hotel Cocaine”, “Belgravia: The Next Chapter”, and “Untitled Amityville Murders Docuseries”.

The new brand logo will embody the rich legacy of MGM, while at the same time orienting the brand toward the future, the Amazon-owned studio said. 

The design studio Imaginary Forces has been hired for the rebranding. 

NEW YORK—After a noticeable delay of nearly one week in releasing audience data for Prime Video's first regular season Thursday Night Football game, Amazon's streaming service has finally announced some impressive numbers, with 15.3 million viewers watching the September 15 showdown between the AFC rival Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.

Those numbers include all available data on every platform from Amazon’s first party measurement metrics and Nielsen data. 

Taken alone, Nielsen National TV Ratings showed that Thursday Night Football averaged an impressive 13.0 million total viewers, up +47% from last year’s comparable Week 2 TNF matchup, which aired solely on NFL Network (NYG vs. WSH, 8.84M, including over-the-air). Thursday’s audience on Prime Video peaked from 10:45-10:59 p.m. with 14.6 million viewers as the Chiefs outdueled the Chargers, 27-24. 

Perhaps more notably for the future of NFL games on streaming platforms, the game proved to be a big hit among younger viewers, drawing a 4.25 rating in adults 18-34, making it the #1 rated program for the week in that demo and 18% higher than the average A18-34 NFL rating this season. 

Thursday Night Football (TNF) on Prime Video also delivered an audience 7 years younger than the linear NFL audience through Week 2 of the 2022 season (46 vs. 53). The audience was 8 years younger than last year’s average TNF audience (54, tri-cast on Fox, NFL Network and Prime Video).

TNF on Prime Video also rated higher than last year’s full-season TNF tri-cast average among A18-34 (+29%, 4.25 vs. 3.3) and A18-49 (+9%, 5.0 vs. 4.6), Amazon reported.

TNF on Prime Video was the most-watched program of the night across broadcast or cable, out-delivering the #2 program by +271% in total viewers (13.0 million vs. 3.5 million for "Young Sheldon" on CBS).

The Nielsen numbers of 13 million viewers were also higher than the 12.5 million Amazon had promised advertisers according to Ad Age. 

According to Nielsen local market ratings, the local broadcasts in Los Angeles averaged 602,000 viewers, and 555,000 viewers in Kansas City.

WASHINGTON—Pearl TV, the coalition of U.S. broadcasters transitioning to NextGen TV, today announced new NextGen TV models from Hisense are now available on Amazon and Best Buy’s online retail website, starting at $799 MSRP. Hisense is the first Chinese manufacturer to offer the ATSC 3.0-enabled sets and join the more than 70 models available from Sony, Samsung and LG Electronics.

“Hisense has long been recognized as a high-tech, high-quality brand at an affordable price point. Its NextGen TV models underscore once again how it pushes the boundaries of innovation to deliver value to consumers,” stated Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. “When the consumer looks for the logo, whether the consumer buys online or in-store, they can feel confident that the Hisense NextGen TV purchased today will keep up with future technology enhancements.” 

Announced at CES 2022, the ATSC 3.0 chipsets have been integrated into Hisense’s U7H and U8H series sets with a third series to follow later this year. Unfortunately for consumers who are looking for NextGen TV sets, a search on the specs on both Hisense’s website and Amazon and the Best Buy website do not include ATSC 3.0 reception as a feature. 

According to the Pearl TV press release, the U7H Series features include IMAX enhanced, Filmmaker Mode, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR 10/10+/adaptive, Quantum Dot, FreeSync Premium and the newly integrated NextGen TV ATSC 3.0 tuner. Premium audio enhancements such as Dolby Atmos, eARC and WiSA deliver immersive audio, and the 120Hz refresh rate not only brings smooth clarity but also fluid motion for fast-action gaming, sports and movies. The U7H series offers screen sizes spanning 55-85 inches and starts at $799.99 MSRP. Available now at retailers including Best Buy and Amazon. 

The U8H Series features a Mini LED upgrade paired with Hisense’s ULED technology and Quantum Dot, “delivering vibrant colors, impressive contrast, and its trademark bright picture for a fantastic HDR experience,” according to Hisense. With a 120Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness up to 1500 nits, and picture upgrades like IMAX enhanced, Filmmaker Mode, Dolby Vision, state-of-the-art picture quality with Dolby IQ, and HDR10+, the U8H delivers superior features. The U8H series offers 55 to 75-inch screen sizes and starts at $1099 MSRP. U8H is now available at retailers including Best Buy and Amazon. 

“Great performance and picture quality are at the foundation of all Hisense product offerings, and our U7H and U8H NextGen TV models are a testament to this commitment by putting even more premium options within people’s reach,” commented David Gold, President of Hisense USA. “As consumers continue to seek a top-notch viewing experience and excellent value package, we are proud to deliver this with NextGen TV.” 

Now broadcasting in more than 50 markets, NextGen TV now reaches half of the U.S. population, Pearl TV said. 

NEW YORK—As Amazon prepares for the landmark streaming launch of its exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football (TNF) telecasts on Prime Video, Nielsen and Amazon have signed a three-year agreement to measure the games as part of Nielsen's National TV measurement service. 

Starting with the 2022 NFL season, measurement will include full coverage of the TNF broadcast—including the pregame, in-game and postgame programming—on Prime Video and Twitch, as well as the over-the-air stations in teams' local markets each week, and out-of-home viewing.

This will be the first time a streaming service will have one of its live programs measured as part of Nielsen's National TV measurement service, the companies said. 

TNF will be measured and processed like all other NFL games, using Nielsen's panel, allowing for the same metrics to be reported across all other national networks, continued trending, and comparability. According to Nielsen's ratings, NFL games and shoulder programming such as pregame and postgame accounted for the top 27 live telecasts in 2021, and 47 of the top 50.

"Nielsen is the long-time leader in the measurement space, providing gold-standard currency to the media industry and we're thrilled that Amazon recognizes that and is working with us to bring a streaming service into our National TV measurement for the first time ever," said Deirdre Thomas, managing director, U.S. audience measurement product sales, Nielsen, "We are committed to delivering comparable, comprehensive measurement of all audiences, across all platforms, and this agreement to measure TNF viewership is a testament to that commitment."

"Excitement is building for this new era of Thursday Night Football. We are looking forward to delivering a new viewing experience and offering brands new ways to connect with current and future fans," said  Srishti Gupta, Director of Media Measurement, Amazon Ads.  "Our collaboration with Nielsen will allow us to provide advertisers with familiar campaign measurement to make apples-to-apples comparisons across their multi-channel media investments. Additionally, advertisers will have access to metrics from Amazon that will provide actionable insights to understand brand awareness, engagement, and sales. This powerful combination of first and third-party measurement is something only Amazon can provide." 

Nielsen will begin measuring TNF on Amazon starting with its preseason game August 25 featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans. Amazon's exclusive 15-game TNF regular season slate kicks off September 15 when the Los Angeles Chargers travel to Arrowhead to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. 29 of the NFL's 32 clubs will appear on TNF this season, culminating December 29 when the Tennessee Titans host the Dallas Cowboys.

 SUN VALLEY, Idaho—NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told CNBC that “I clearly believe we'll be moving to a streaming service” for the NFL Sunday Ticket rights and that their NFL+ streaming service will start for this season, with an announcement on pricing and other details “in a few weeks.”

The Sunday Ticket rights to all out of market NFL games had been held for many years by DirecTV. Apple, Amazon, Disney/ESPN are currently bidding on the package. CNBC has reported that the NFL is looking for more than $2 billion for the package. 

When asked by CNBC what it would mean “to be partnered with the likes of an Apple or an Amazon, to have those rights to a tech giant, and not to the likes of an ESPN Plus?” Goodell didn’t rule out working with ESPN, but stated that they were considering three platforms, which presumably referred to Amazon, Apple and Disney/ESPN. 

“Right now you know, we're on a video service to DirecTV,” Goodell said. “And it's, it's worked very well for us. But we really believe that these three platforms give us an ability to innovate beyond where we are today and make the experience for our consumers so much better. So it obviously makes it more available to our consumers and particularly the younger demographic is one that we really want to get to….this will make it more accessible for the fans. I think it would be a better experience for fans. And we're excited to see more and more games available on these streaming services."

Goodell also downplayed the impact this could have on linear TV ratings. 

“We had quite a bit [of streaming] last year….NBC would have their games on Peacock, of course and CBS on Paramount Plus and ESPN Plus and ABC. And we think that's consistent with our philosophy, which is to make our game available in the broadest possible platforms to be able to engage our fans the deepest way and I think that's consistent that we haven't seen it that hurt any of those platforms, because we think they're different users. We think that people who are watching on the streaming service aren't watching on television. So it's adding to our audience.”

“And that's really the focus we have for Amazon Prime,” Goodell continued. “This is the first time in 35 years that we've changed a major carrier of our packages to a Thursday night package. And that's going to be available only on Amazon Prime…..So that's a very big focus for us during the season.”

In terms of their direct-to-consumer service, Goodell said “we think it's very important to have a relationship directly with the consumer. We have a lot of content and a lot of ability to be able to do that. Consumers want it and so we're very excited about what the NFL Plus is going to be.”

He added that the service will be in place for the upcoming season but said details on pricing and other issues would not be made public for “a few weeks.”

The full interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin is available here. 

NEW YORK—The NFL and Amazon Prime Video have unveiled the schedule for the Thursday Night Football (TNF) games that will be streamed exclusively on Prime Video. 

This marks the first time that the games will only be available on streaming rather than airing on a network and streaming. 

“The first exclusive season of TNF on Prime Video is officially can’t-miss TV, with star power like Lamar Jackson and the Ravens taking on Tom Brady and the Bucs, divisional rivalries featuring Bills at Patriots and Chargers at Chiefs, a fun West Coast matchup between the Raiders and the Super Bowl Champion Rams, and a heavyweight showdown with Derrick Henry and the Titans visiting iconic Lambeau Field to face the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of Global Sports Video, Amazon. “It’s an action-packed inaugural TNF lineup, with must-see games NFL fans won’t want to miss. We can’t wait to kick things off on Prime Video this September.”

The games will be called by Al Michaels, who left NBC Sports to join Amazon, and Kirk Herbstreit. 

Recently, Prime Video also announced Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez has joined the TNF team as an NFL analyst for its pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. Fred Gaudelli, a 24-time Emmy winner, will serve as executive producer of Thursday Night Football. 

Pregame coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET and kickoff at 8:15 ET.

The full 2022 schedule, which includes: 

• Week 2 - Thursday, Sept. 15: Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.)
• Week 3 - Thursday, Sept. 22: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns (FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio)
• Week 4 - Thursday, Sept. 29: Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati Bengals (Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Week 5 - Thursday, Oct. 6: Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos (Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, Colo.)
• Week 6 - Thursday Oct. 13: Washington Commanders at Chicago Bears (Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.)
• Week 7 - Thursday, Oct. 20: New Orleans Saints at Arizona Cardinals (State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.)
• Week 8 - Thursday, Oct. 27: Baltimore Ravens at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla)
• Week 9 - Thursday, Nov. 3: Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans (NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas)
• Week 10 - Thursday, Nov. 10: Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers (Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.)
• Week 11 - Thursday, Nov. 17: Tennessee Titans at Green Bay Packers (Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisc)
• Week 13 - Thursday, Dec. 1: Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass)
• Week 14 - Thursday, Dec. 8: Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Rams (SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.)
• Week 15 - Thursday, Dec. 15: San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks (Lumen Field, Seattle, Wash.)
• Week 16 - Thursday, Dec. 22: Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.)
• Week 17 - Thursday, Dec. 29: Dallas Cowboys at Tennessee Titans (Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.)

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Roku, Inc. has issued a statement confirming that it has reached a multi-year extension of its distribution agreement with Amazon.

“Roku and Amazon have reached a multi-year extension for their distribution agreement. Customers can continue to access the Prime Video and IMDb TV apps on their Roku devices,” the company said. 

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed but the announcement comes at a time when agreements between major streaming platforms and tech companies have become increasingly fraught. Last year heated discussions between Google and Roku over carriage of YouTube took months to resolve. 

Roku's stock was up about 7% in trading on April 4 by 3 p.m. ET on the news. 

SEATTLE—Amazon has announced that it has completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM studios, giving the tech giant access to MGM’s library of 4,000+ film titles and 17,000+ TV episodes as well as the James Bond properties and other storied franchises. 

The deal was approved earlier this week by European regulators but has not yet received formal approval from U.S. regulators. 

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the regulatory clock for challenging the deal with the agency expired, leaving Amazon free to move forward.

However, the commission would still have the ability to challenge the acquisition later, if a majority of the FTC votes to do so, the WSJ noted. 

The deal, which was first announced last May, is part of a massive effort by Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video to ramp up original production and content spending, which hit $13 billion in 2021. 

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Fox Corporation has announced that three of its free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels – LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Soul and the previously announced Fox Weather – are now available on the Amazon news app on Fire TV.

Fox said the agreement is its first deal for its full portfolio of network-based FAST and AVOD content.

With the launch, U.S. customers can access the those channels, as well as hundreds of short form segments per week from Fox News, Fox Business, and Fox Sports. 

Short form content from Fox owned & operated local stations, along with all content availability on Echo Show devices, will be coming soon, Fox said.

Amazon’s News app on Fire TV is a free and customizable news aggregator that is supported with advertising. The app comes built into the Fire TV experience on all Fire TV streaming media players and smart TVs in the U.S. 

“Fox is pleased to expand our relationship with Amazon to bring our industry-leading news, weather, and sports content to the Amazon News app on an array of Fire TV devices,” said BJ Elias, executive vice president, distribution advanced services, Fox Corporation.

LiveNOW from Fox is a live, and unfiltered streaming news service focused on delivering the most relevant and engaging coverage of all news across the country with nearly 120 hours of live news coverage each week.

Fox SOUL is a free streaming platform for the Black community, with over 1,300 hours of live and interactive programming annually. 

Fox Weather is a 24/7 ad-supported streaming weather service operated by Fox News Media.

SEATTLE—In a notable development in the battle for market share in the smart TV landscape, Amazon’s first "built" smart TVs, the Amazon Fire TV Omni Series and Amazon Fire TV 4-Series, have gone on sale. 

Amazon also announced that the two lineups of TVs will soon support Apple Airplay 2 and HomeKit. 

The launch comes at a time when operators like Comcast are launching their own TVs and it highlights the fierce ongoing battle of smart TV operating systems and streaming device systems between Amazon, Roku, Google, Samsung, Apple, LG, Vizio and others. 

These proprietary operating systems help those players steer users to preferred content and produce massive amounts of data that can be used to boost revenues from ads, subscriptions and other services.  

Those added revenues are important given the low profit margins for TV manufacturers and a way of differentiating products in an already crowded smart TV sector. But ability of companies to control access to smart TVs has also produced some heated conflicts over content between players like YouTube, Roku, HBO Max and others. 

Both lines of Amazon’s new smart TVs compete directly with lower cost TV manufacturers, with the Amazon Fire TV 4 Series starting at $369.99. It is available in 43”, 50”, and 55” model sizes. The Omni Series starts at $409.99 and is available in 43”, 50”, 55”, 65”, and 75” model sizes.

The Fire TV Omni Series integrates the Fire TV experience and hands-free access to Alexa directly into the TV, providing an all-in-one entertainment device for streaming, cable TV, music, gaming, etc. It is available in screen sizes ranging from 43 to 75 inches. 

Fire TV Omni’s key features include support for 4K Ultra HD, HDR 10, HLG, and Dolby Digital Plus. The Omni 65” and 75” models support Dolby Vision and feature a slim bezel design.

It has three HDMI inputs to connect to set-top boxes, video game consoles, and more. HDMI eARC lets you add audio equipment like a soundbar for enhanced sound, which you can control through voice with Alexa. 

It also has Live View Picture-in-Picture; Video calling; and Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote.

Later this year, Fire TV will release an all-new smart home dashboard to control connected devices; Alexa shortcut panel for quick access to popular features; and a new beta Alexa experience that lets users ask for content recommendations.

The Fire TV 4-Series offers 4K UHD resolution with HDR10 and HLG for beautiful picture quality on 4K TV shows and movies. It features a fully-integrated Fire TV experience and supports many of the same Alexa experiences as the Fire TV Omni Series, which users can access by using the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote.