Amazon Prime Video Limits British Originals, Targets Female Viewers

Georgia Brown, Amazon Studios’ director of European originals, isn’t competing with Netflix. Nor is the streamer pushing into British content.

Rather, Brown told the UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee today that its goal is to curate a smaller number of originals, reports Deadline.

British content has grown judiciously — from eight shows in 2019 to 11 in 2020, including “Truth Seekers,” about an offbeat group that tracks paranormal activity. The company has also co-produced 20 shows with UK broadcasters, such as the Emmy-winning “Fleabag.”

What Amazon Studios won’t do is try to compete with Netflix. Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s new head of global TV, promised the UK will remain a major market for content. (The streamer spend $520M on content in 2019.)

Brown says Amazon Prime Video has singular goals: “We’re taking an approach that we would like to be producing fewer shows at a much better quality,” she told the committee. “I don’t see us as lagging behind other SVOD services.”

In addition, she wants to produce shows that target female viewers, such as the 10-episode “The Power,” based on Naomi Alderman’s book, which begins production later this year.

Separately, Amazon Prime Video was No. 2 in acquiring new subscribers among streamers in Q3, according to Kantar, the research company. The streamer grabbed 16% of those in the 20,000 member consumer panel. Another plus for Amazon Prime, which drove 23% of new subs in Q2, was “The Boys.”