2019-08-11_Business_Today

where the content fits best. It’s not about how many
(shows) are there in each bucket.

How different are you from Netflix?

What’s different about us is the curation. It’s a customer-
focussed strategy, delivering shows to our customers that
are about quality and not quantity. We may not have as
many shows as Netflix, but would like to stay on by the
quality of our shows and global marketing of these shows.
I am a fan of a lot of Netflix shows. I don’t want to put
down Netflix, but they are in the volume business and we
are in a different kind of business.

When you develop a concept for an original show

or a movie, what goes into it?

How different is it from a film

or a TV show?

We decide whether a story feels like a

movie or a limited series. Does it feel

like a theatrically released movie? We

are able to look at all these options and

that is what’s great about being part of

this company. All doors are open to you.

How has the platform business evol-

ved in the last three years in India?

When you came in, there was only

Hotstar and SonyLiv, which at that

point was just catch-up television

It is definitely evolving. In the first

stage, it was about the kind of content

we were looking for. Can you put the

stuff in India or globally? The questions

asked were pretty nascent. They would

ask questions such as if we do a show

with you, how are you going to promote

it? Are you going to put ads in the pa-

per? Once we came out with Inside Edge

and Breathe, they realised we were go-

ing big, as big as a feature film. That

part of the conversation is much easier

now. Now the discussion is more on the

lines of having a great collaboration. It’s

no longer transactional.

In terms of subscription revenue,

India is one of the cheapest mar-

kets for Amazon, and you are mak-

ing huge investments in content.

How far is profitability?

The cool thing about being part of this

company is that we are not a single busi-

ness company. We have retail business, publishing busi-

ness. It’s wonderful that Prime offers all these benefits,

and it’s not a simple plus and minus kind of business. It’s

about enhancing and building Prime. We are lucky that

we are supported in being creative.

Where do you see Amazon Prime Video three years

from now?

Globally, I would like to see Amazon Prime as a place

where people are happy to work. I want more women

within the company, because we are expanding this home

for talent.

@AjitaShashidhar

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