Amazon has introduced its latest ad-supported video-on-demand service dubbed Amazon MX Player. It is the result of the merger of two OTT streaming services — MX Player and Amazon miniTV. Amazon says its new streaming platform will offer content across genres and languages, while it will continue to invest in original shows and films. Library of shows and films of both platforms will be available to viewers on Amazon's latest streaming service.
Amazon MX Player
In a press release Amazon said that the new video-streaming platform will offer hit shows like Aashram, Dharavi Bank, Campus Diaries, Bhaukaal, Raktanchal, Shiksha Mandal, Roohaniyat, and Jamnapaar. It will also feature a collection of Korean, Mandarin and Turkish shows dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and other Indian languages.
Making the announcement, Girish Prabhu, Head of Amazon Advertising India said, “Today we are bringing together the vast reach of MX Player, with the advertising tech that leverages Amazon's billions of customer signals. It's about enabling all brands, not just the ones selling on Amazon, to reach and deliver relevant advertising to a very large and engaged base across India.”
The first mention of this deal surfaced in 2023 when Amazon was reported to enter into talks with the Tencent-backed firm, but it fell through. In May 2024, the talks were said to have been resumed again and an agreement was found some time later for a reported sum of less than $100 million (roughly Rs. 839 crore). Inc42 highlighted that this was an all-cash transaction. At the time, it was said that MX Player's senior management would join Amazon following the completion of this deal.
Notably, Amazon does not own the video-streaming platform in its entirety but only some of its assets. According to a report, Amazon gets a “distribution and marketing partner” following this deal, which could potentially help the company develop into a “more popular and trustworthy” option for people in smaller cities.
