Amazon Prime Video goes global

Amazon original The Man in the High Castle

Amazon has rolled out its Prime Video subscription service around the world as it seeks to go head-to-head with streaming rival Netflix globally.

The SVoD service is now available in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe, the online retail giant announced this morning.

Existing Amazon Prime members in Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy and Spain have automatically received access to its library of original and acquired TV series, including The Grand Tour and Transparent.

Meanwhile, Amazon is making Prime Video available at an introductory price of US$2.99 (or €2.99) per month for the first six months around the rest of the world. Thereafter it will cost US$5.99 (or €5.99) per month, which falls below Netflix’s global average monthly subscription fee.

In October, C21 learned Amazon Prime Video was planning to launch around Europe by the end of year, while reports had emerged from Canada and India that launches there were imminent.

The roll-out means Amazon no longer lags behind Netflix in terms of global reach, and will likely result in the two streaming services competing even more fiercely for new shows.

Amazon’s pipeline of original programming includes The Man in the High Castle and Mozart in the Jungle, as well as children’s series such as Tumble Leaf and Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street.

C21 understands the company also has global rights to forthcoming dramas such as American Gods, which will premiere in the US on Starz next year.

Additional Amazon original series such as Woody Allen’s Crisis in Six Scenes, docuseries American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story and Sneaky Pete, produced by Bryan Cranston, will be added to the service next year.

Earlier this month the company’s recently appointed head of international productions, Morgan Wandell, outlined his commissioning aims at C21’s Content London event.