The streaming industry and the great disruption: how winning a Golden Globe helps Amazon sell more shoes

Abstract

This paper assesses the media industry in the US by analyzing Big Tech’s entrance into film and television production and the rise of streaming distribution technology. Through a case study of Prime Video, Amazon’s prize streaming platform, this study explores how streaming technology has disrupted film and television from multiple perspectives, subjecting the industry to new logics of internet distribution, rooted in platforms, artificial intelligence, digital delivery systems, and big data. In the Big Tech worldview, disruption is an inherently progressive development. However, an analysis of Prime Video reveals how disruption is only the latest manifestation of conglomeration and convergence in the film and television industries. By uncovering the industry logics that govern the era of streaming, this paper analyzes the streaming industry of the present while taking into consideration the cable period in the past to account for the rapid technological development in the future.

Keywords

Amazon conglomeration film and television flywheel economics media industry Prime Video Streaming

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