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The streaming war has intensified with retail giant Walmart (WMT) officially partnering with Paramount Global (PARA), and YouTube TV (GOOGL) reportedly opening an online channel store to compete with the likes of Roku (ROKU), Amazon (AMZN). ), and Apple (AAPL).
But with so much competition and so many new strategies painting the landscape, one platform stands out to analysts: Amazon Prime Video.
“In terms of growth, I think Amazon could really be the dark horse,” Geeta Ranganathan, senior media analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told Yahoo Finance.
Referring to the unique 15-game “Thursday Night Football” package, she added that the service “could do a lot of damage.” The 11-year deal with the NFL will cost the company a reported $1 billion a year.
The analyst also called out the platform’s much-anticipated “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series, which will span eight chapters starting in early September.
According to Variety, Amazon plans to spend $465 million to develop the product first The season of the upcoming show. For context, Peter Jackson’s entire “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy cost $281 million.
“Money is nothing to Amazon,” Ranganathan said, adding that the tech giant is “happy to be a loss leader” and is happy with streaming as it focuses on the “long game.”
As streaming continues to expand, a new report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that Amazon is meeting with top Hollywood movie executives to revamp its movie division.
Amazon Studios is reportedly in talks with Netflix film chief Scott Stuber. The company also held talks with former Paramount Pictures executive Emma Watts.
“Tech giants have nothing to lose.”
Ranganathan reiterated that the entry of both Amazon and Apple into the streaming wars “has made the competition very tough.”
“The biggest risk for established media companies is that they have a model to prove to investors and ensure a return on investment.”
“This will be difficult for them,” the analyst said.
Conversely, “tech giants have nothing to lose by keeping people in their ecosystem” because of other services.
Streaming is “more of an abstraction-slash-ecosystem play for a company like Amazon or Apple,” she continued, emphasizing it as an additional service that increases stickiness across platforms.
Cowen media analyst Doug Kreutz agreed, “Amazon and Apple have more businesses and more people on the platform — the economics are completely different compared to other players.”
He added: “It doesn’t matter if Apple loses money on a product it releases, but it fills up a lot of iPhones.”
“It’s the same with Amazon. It’s good to lose money on video because streaming is a pure cost center for them because they don’t directly generate revenue.”
Still, Amazon has gained popularity in recent months with “The Boys” Season 3 and Chris Pratt’s newly released “The Terminal List” hitting the limelight.
According to Nielsen, “The Terminal List” (despite poor critical reviews) generated an impressive 1.6 billion minutes of airtime in the July 4-July 10 viewing window, 2018.
The military thriller was second only to “Stranger Things,” which watched 4.8 billion minutes during the same period.
Alexandra is a senior entertainment and food reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. @alliecanal8193 And email me at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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