Unveiling its biggest ever slate at the maiden ‘Prime Video Presents India’ showcase event here in Mumbai, the video streaming platform said it will launch 40 new titles in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, across original series, movies, and co-productions over the next two years.
These include series from Nikhil Advani’s Emmy Entertainment, Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Media & Entertainment, Raj & DK’s D2R Films, and Pritish Nandy Communications, among others. For original films, Prime Video has tie ups with Vikram Malhotra’s Abundantia Entertainment, Rohit Shetty Picturez and Maddock Films.
There will be 22 original scripted series, nine returning series, three Amazon original films, and two co-productions.
Besides that, Prime Video also announced new multi-year licencing and co-production deals and partnerships with Ajay Devgn FFilm (4 upcoming films), Dharma Productions (3 films), Excel Media and Entertainment (5 films) and Yash Raj Films (5 films).
It also forayed into original movie production in India with films in Hindi and Telugu, which will be released directly on the service.
After launching Prime Video Channels last year, in another step towards creating a video entertainment marketplace, Amazon also launched the Prime Video Store, its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) movie rental service in India.
The TVOD service will also allow users, who aren’t Prime members, to access the latest Indian and international movies on a pay-per-view basis. At present, among ITT services, only ZEE5 has a TVOD service called ZEEPLEX.
Other TVOD platforms include ticketing website BookMyShow owned Stream, Apple’s iTunes and Google Play Movies & TV.
The company said that Prime Video’s customer footprint will expand even further as the TVOD rental service will be available to everyone.
“In the last 5 years, we have built a strong slate of locally produced content across languages, super-serving the diverse entertainment needs of Indian customers,” said Gaurav Gandhi, country head, Amazon Prime Video India. “With increased access and distribution, we have helped these great stories travel far and wide in India, and around the world. We have played a key role in helping expand the linguistic palette of Indian customers, thereby increasing the audience base for creators and talent.”
He added that Prime Video India enjoys viewership from 99% of the country’s pin-codes and that India continues to be one of Prime Video’s fastest-growing and most engaged locales globally.
On the launch of Studio and TVOD services, he said it’s in tune with the company’s vision to become the “most-loved” entertainment hub.
The upcoming Amazon Originals will include genres ranging from thrillers, action, and dramas to light-hearted comedies and romances. The service is also exploring genres like supernatural and horror for the first time on its India trip. It is also expanding its catalogue of unscripted shows to include shows about biographies, true-crime, and investigative docudramas.
The company aims to be a home for talent and is working with a wide set of diverse creators with unique, cinematic voices from across the country. Almost 70% of the new upcoming titles will feature new talent, both in front of and behind the camera.
