Amazon Prime Video wants to strengthen its streaming position, and a stronger alliance with Disney will help.
It currently streams Disney shows, while Amazon Fire TV devices distribute the Disney+ app. In the competition for subscribers, stronger video distribution deals are key.
“Amazon wants new access to Disney inventory,” an agency executive told Ad Age. “And they’re going to bring on more third-party [over-the-top] inventory sources from other major, well-known video providers.”
The trade pub reports a bigger slice of the advertising pie in connected TV is one of Amazon’s main strategies in the digital world. After all, it is competing with traditional media companies like Disney, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS for an estimated $25 billion in advertising allotted to TV and digital video in upfront deals.
That’s one reason Amazon wants Disney as part of its Amazon Publisher Services. If Disney joins, it could sell ads using Amazon data. It would also provide Amazon advertisers access to more Disney-owned video placements. Which makes programs like Amazon’s Publisher Services critical to its connected TV offering and growth.
Amazon has already built a sizable network of media partners through its Publisher Services program.
Amazon Prime, a service with more than 110 million subscribers, per Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, is a powerhouse. Amazon also has investments in the ad-supported streamer IMDb TV.
Jessica Brown, director of digital investment at GroupM, told Ad Age that Amazon is investing in IMDb TV: “They want to grow that channel through originals, and making them for IMDb TV to focus on growing out viewership.”