Amazon has another video streaming service up its sleeve to run alongside the company’s existing offering, Amazon Prime Instant Video. That’s according to a report from the New York Post, which says the firm has an ad-supported free video service in development.
Amazon Prime Instant comes bundled into the company’s $99 per year Prime membership. The new service would be an alternative to that option, perhaps for customers who don’t see the need for Prime’s speedy shipping and other benefits.
This isn’t the first time rumors about an ad-supported Netflix rival from Amazon have appeared. Back in March, the Wall Street Journal ran a similar story which the company denied was true. The New York Post report notes that but says its sources insist the new streaming service is coming this time.
Amazon has an established advertising network, Amazon Media Group, which sells ads across Amazon.com, Quidsy, Imdb and DPReview, so it’s well placed to build out an ad-supported streaming option.
We’ve contacted Amazon for a comment and we’ll update this story if we hear more. Still, with Netflix accounting for 35 percent of US internet traffic, it makes sense that Amazon would want to make a play for a bigger slice of the pie itself.
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➤ Amazon plans a streaming video alternative [The New York Post]
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