As a way to separate itself from other home media providers, Amazon Studios tried to establish their service has a hub for original content through a development process controlled by viewers. This allowed its viewers to make the calls of which pilots go to series. Earlier this year, viewers selected the shows Alpha House and Betas as the first series to be released. However, by the time Alpha House premiered, it received very little fanfare from its audience. Industry leaders suggest this is due to Amazon’s traditional release model – in which a new episode is released every Friday until the end of the season – whereas its largest competitor, Netflix, has already learned that viewers want everything at once.
The traditional release model for TV shows, allows the audience to have a conversation about a show in-between episodes. While some believed that the all at once model would take away from the discussion, Netflix has proved the opposite, the conversation still exists but it happens on a different timetable.
In 2013, Netflix successfully released 4 original shows using the all at once model. Early adopters would watch the series in a few days, and would discuss the show with like-minded viewers, until everyone else caught up. As a result, the company has created a new standard for digital content built on viewer control.
Since Amazon’s strategy is user based, it was a mistake to use the traditional release model instead of allowing users to choose how they will watch the material.
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