Amazon’s company culture may be hurting its streaming business

A company as big and wealthy as Amazon has more than enough resources to beat its competitors in the streaming industry, so why not? Proud. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Boys, Lord of the Rings: Ring of Powerand future fall out, But the technical foundation Amazon has built seems to be a problem for its streaming business.

as details in this work from hollywood reporter, Prime Video’s behind-the-scenes tension stems in part from Amazon’s Big Tech culture. Amazon is notorious for treating its employees as cogs in the bigger business his machine, which doesn’t quite align with the talent-obsessed ways of Hollywood.

Some of the examples of cultural clashes between the two worlds are funny — insiders talking to Kim Masters sound a little spoiled as they complain about seating plans and compensation structures. This may seem like a small thing, but it’s still a problem.Regardless of who is responsible (many sources hollywood reporter(in part refers to Jennifer Salke, head of Prime Video), things aren’t going well for Amazon’s streaming business.

Amazon caps employees’ base salaries at $350,000 with stock options. That’s not how compensation is handled, even in Hollywood and most other big streaming companies.Amazon’s compensation structure is so different that the insiders we spoke with hollywood reporter Many Amazon Prime executives suggest they’re simply “marking the time to get as much inventory as possible.” [to vest] as they can.

Amazon also appears to have extended its “agile seating” arrangement to its entertainment division. This means that only top executives have their own offices, while the rest of the employees store their personal belongings in less attractive lockers and work in unassigned cubicles. In the world, a good office for receiving talent and receiving calls is both important to work and a sign of status. It just contributes to the sense of sex.” hollywood reportersource says.

But it’s not just the lack of corner offices and huge paid packages that Amazon’s streaming executives are complaining about. There are also indicators. Technology-based streamers tend to make decisions based on metrics, while Hollywood-based streamers may be willing to take big gambles based on their intuition. A good example of this is Thursday Night Football by Amazon is foray into live sports. Amazon has done very well with the deal, spending $1 billion a year and making a profit. Record Number of Prime Subscribers As a result, during the debut broadcast.

That’s great, but the bosses of all the people who’ve been hired to find and produce TV shows and movies, when they’ve spent big bucks on exclusive sports to get more subscribers, why are they I’m starting to wonder why should I spend on the potential for big wins. As pointed out by hollywood reportera Prime Video insider says its success has changed the way the company watches live TV and movies when it comes to attracting and retaining Prime subscribers.

And if you look at how much Amazon spends on scripted content and sports, you can pretty much tell where those execs are coming from. during February Amazon advertised reached 100 million viewers in the first season of Lord of the rings: Ring of power,in short most expensive show in the world, costing a whopping $450 million (Including the $250 million that Amazon paid for the rights, it’s nearly $700 million. Lord of the Ring). but, Only 37% of US users finished watchingThe Hollywood Reporter Note, below expectations.

Other similarly expensive projects have yielded similar results. for example, hollywood reporter Amazon says it spent $8 million on a two-year deal with Lena Waithe, who eventually moved to HBO Max.She also renewed her $20 million a year contract with Phoebe Waller-Bridge after she left of Mr. & Mrs. Smith the project she was working onWaller-Bridge is now Amazon’s tomb raider adaptation.

According to the company’s earnings report, Amazon spent a combined $16.6 billion on video and music last year. $7 billion of which Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky says it was spent on “Amazon Originals, live sports, and licensed third-party video content included with Prime.” The company spent half the cost of its biggest rival, Netflix. fluctuated around $16.84 billion last year.

But Amazon’s $7 billion bill didn’t seem to do much to move the needle in terms of subscriber numbers. Amazon may need to reveal its Hollywood ambitions beyond just maintaining a streaming service that produces solid (but not outstanding) content.