For the first time, Amazon is offering its video streaming service as a monthly, stand-alone option that competes with Netflix.
Video streaming was previously available only as part of an Amazon Prime membership for $99 a year. On Sunday Amazon announced it will now start offering the service for $8.99 per month. The plan includes 4K Ultra HD streaming on three devices at once as long as all the content is all different, and the ability to download content to a mobile device without an internet connection.
To compare, Netflix’s most popular standard plan costs $9.99 per month, and includes streaming on two devices. Netflix also offers a basic plan for $7.99 per month that allows only one video stream at a time, and Ultra HD content with it’s premium plan for $11.99 per month.
Amazon also announced that Prime membership will be available monthly for the first time in the U.S. for $10.99. The monthly options can be turned on or off as customers want, a move that may benefit shoppers during the holiday season.
Although Amazon Prime is best known for its free, two-day shipping of products, its video streaming service is just one of many perks that also includes an e-book lending library and a music service that lets members stream tunes on demand.
The move to break out video streaming as a stand-alone option raises speculation that Amazon could also break out it’s music service to compete with services like Apple Music or Spotify, The Wrap reports.
Amazon strategically announced the monthly options on the eve Netflix’s first-quarter earnings report.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told The Wall Street Journal that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is escalating an arms race with Netflix.
“The two services will compete more closely for customers, and Amazon has the marketing advantage by offering the full Prime service for just a little bit more each month.”
Yet Netflix remains the largest video streaming service, with about half of all U.S. households with a broadband internet connection subscribed to Netflix in 2015 according to researcher Parks Associates. Netflix spends about $4 billion a year on streaming video content, compared to Amazon’s $3 billion.
Netflix also had about 43.4 million U.S. customers and 75 million total customers worldwide at the end of the 2015. Although Amazon doesn’t disclose its Prime membership totals, but estimates range from 40-to-60 million subscribers globally, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Hulu is also a contender in video streaming, increasing it’s spending from $600 million in 2014 to $1.5 billion in 2015. TV networks like HBO and CBS have also launched their own stand-alone streaming services, and cable providers Comcast and Dish Network offer inexpensive streaming packages for channels.
While Amazon and Netflix offer a wide range of video streaming content, Amazon has gone after exclusive deals for high-profile content made by other studios and programmers, whereas Netflix has focused more on creating it’s own original content, according to The Wrap.
Amazon provides access to its original shows like Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle, as well as HBO-contracted shows that are at least three years old, like Girls, Veep and The Wire. (Sorry, Game of Thrones is not part of the deal). Orphan Black and Downton Abbey are also available, along with Epix content that includes Hunger Games: Catching Fire and World War Z. Amazon also signed on director Woody Allen for an exclusive TV series, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Netflix’s roster includes popular originals like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Making a Murderer.
RELATED: Consumers Say Netflix Has Best Original Content
READ MORE: The Wall Street Journal, The Wrap
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