In a statement issued on Amazon’s website today, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos outlined an agreement between his company and Viacom that would see 3,900 TV episodes from Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central come to Prime Instant Video.
Much of the new influx of content appears to be children’s programming, with Bezos citing a 55% increase in the number of episodes available to top Prime shows for kids. These include SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues and iCarly, among others. Also thrown in are 400 episodes of new shows, Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies, VICTORiOUS, Big Time Rush, and Drake & Josh. Key and Peele, Awkward, and Workaholics are two of the notable ones from Comedy Central.
Dora the Explorer was available on Netflix until that company’s deal with Viacom expired last month, seemingly opening up another opportunity with Amazon.
Financial terms of the multi-year deal weren’t disclosed but there is speculation that the cost was significant, considering that the package ultimately includes more than 4,000 shows. Amazon Instant Prime currently has 41,000 available for streaming, though the company doesn’t disclose how many people subscribe to the service.
Bezos also touted the hybrid Prime membership that costs $79 per year and opens up streaming on Instant Prime, plus free two-day shipping and the lender’s library that allows members to borrow eBooks with no due dates.
The battle between the top three streaming services — Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Prime — looks to be heating up even more now that more of these deals are being signed with content owners. In addition, exclusive productions, spurred even further by the success of Netflix’s House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, will likely increase the stakes even further, as more consumers turn to streaming services.
