Wednesday, March 27

Amazon places bet on streaming, fast-paced music awards show


Amazon has seen solid returns from its investment in streaming live sports, but its upcoming experiment with its first live music awards show is more of a gamble.

The 57th annual Academy of Country Music Awards from Las Vegas will air exclusively on Prime Video Monday night in a sped-up, concert-like format without commercials.

But as most awards shows have been grappling with year-over-year declines in ratings on broadcast channels, the question remains if fans will make the switch to streaming.

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said other live music events they have hosted, including a Ye and Drake benefit show in December, show interest in a growing area of ​​streaming content.

“You can see that it’s an area we’re investing in, and we think it helps build an exciting live opportunity for customers to be able to share a bigger cultural moment around content that they love,” said Salke.

Drawn by ACM’s reputation for having a fun, inviting and inclusive atmosphere, the streaming service sought to connect that with its large audience of country fans who listen to Amazon Music. For fans who want an even more music-focused experience, Prime Video will be offering a performance-only edit of the show.

“We feel pretty confident in our massive country music audience base … that we will be able to invite a lot of people in and we think they’re going to come and have a great time,” said Salke.

Hannah Avery, a client manager for Kantar Entertainment on Demand, said that livestreaming of NFL games on Amazon has lured more subscribers to the streaming platform.

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“Just the NFL alone accounted for 4% of new sign-ups, within Q4 of 2021,” Avery said.

Measuring the success of the streaming only awards show will be based on how many people tune in and how many new subscribers join to watch this specifically. But Avery noted that another key metric will be long-term gains for Prime Video.

“If someone is joining to watch something very specific, how do you keep them engaged after that and have them not cancel?” said Avery, who predicted that regardless of how well the ACMs do on Amazon, she expects to see growth in streaming live events.

This year’s show, which will be shot inside Allegiant Stadium, will look like a sports event, with three stages, overhead spider cameras, nonstop action and heavy on graphics.

Without commercials, the show will rely on other revenue streams, most visibly Amazon products, including a shoppable version of a red carpet preshow with Amazon merch and curated by Amazon Fashion.

For artists like Jimmie Allen, who is co-hosting the show along with Gabby Barrett and Dolly Parton, streaming is the future of country music.

“It’s definitely new, especially for country music,” said Allen, who will be performing twice during the show. “As country music continues to continue to expand, we have a lot of people who listen to pop and hip hop and they are used to having things right away and they are used to not waiting.”


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