Following its acquisition of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) film studio, Amazon is launching the Amazon MGM Studios Distribution unit, which will be responsible for distributing Amazon original movies and TV shows, including the massive library it got through MGM.
In March 2022, Amazon closed its $8.5 billion purchase of MGM, giving it power over 4,000 movies, including 12 Angry Men, Creed, Robocop, Rocky, and Stargate and 17,000 TV shows, including The Handmaid’s Tale, which has been a hit for Hulu, and Fargo, which has aired on FX, plus upcoming releases.
Amazon MGM Studios Distribution will also seek to distribute Amazon original content previously limited to Amazon Prime Video, including the Coming 2 America movie and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel TV show.
Amazon’s announcement Monday said it expects “significant third-party licensing and transactional revenue” through distribution, including “bundles” for specific geographies. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Amazon MGM Studios Distribution would explore licensing content to foreign networks in addition to other streaming services and airplanes.
As media streaming services have grown in quantity, so has competition. And many viewers are getting streaming fatigue, tired of figuring out which subscription they need to watch their desired content. Meanwhile, titles and deals are often shifting, forcing customers to frequently evaluate the pros and cons of having multiple streaming subscriptions.
As noted by Bloomberg, Amazon’s purchase of MGM has been an example of new media taking a page from traditional media distribution. At the time of acquisition, it committed to spending up to $1 billion for releasing films for theaters, rather than going straight to on-demand.
In a statement accompanying Amazon’s announcement Monday, Chris Ottinger, who has been in charge of MGM distribution for over 10 years and will head Amazon MGM Studios Distribution (reporting to Brad Beale, an Amazon executive pre-acquisition and now VP of Worldwide Licensing & Distribution, Amazon and MGM Studios), said the new division will “break through the current sales mold by creating custom packages that will fulfill our client’s individual content needs.”
Amazon said it will hold meetings for potential clients starting this month, so you may see some previously Amazon exclusives outside of Prime Video soon.
Licensing could be a way forward for streaming services as competition gets thicker, viewers seek simplicity, and revenue stays top-of-mind. As of January, viewers could find titles on Roku and Tubi that were previously only available on HBO Max. And in February, Bloomberg reported that Disney was considering being more giving with its content, after seeing stock plummet and reportedly losing billions by not sharing programs with former partners like Netflix.
Meanwhile, failing to play well with others could result in streaming services missing the opportunity to license some wildly popular titles. For example, Nielsen data analyzed by Bloomberg in April found that Netflix represents 70 to 80 percent of the US’s most-watched TV shows weekly. Streaming services willing to engage in some give and take may be able to better satisfy viewers, who have a lot of avenues to access movies and TV shows these days.
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