Is Prime Video even a streaming service?
I know, that’s a weird question to ask. Of course it’s a streaming service. But is it really up to the same level as services like Disney+ and HBO Max (before Discovery took it over?) I think there’s a discussion to be had. Certainly they kind of want to rise to that top tier but I have to say, I don’t think they are there yet.
Free shipping, and
Prime Video is just one of the benefits you get when you subscribe to Amazon Prime. Obviously the biggest benefit is free shipping on anything you buy on Amazon. There are tons of other little benefits, from cloud gaming and music to discounts at Whole Foods. I’m not here to shill for them, but if you want to know more about that stuff, check out the benefits here.
So, you have to really look at Prime Video as just one of the free things you get when you subscribe to Prime. It doesn’t have to stand on its own two feet like, for example, Netflix does. The problem is, without that need to be profitable on its own, the service isn’t always really up to par.
The stuff that’s getting better
I’ll give Prime Video credit for massive improvements on their app in the last couple of months. There’s been a visual facelift that brings the app into line with other streaming apps. It’s a lot easier to see the things you want, and there’s far less duplication.
I’ve also generally found that the app experience is faster and feels more comfortable. Scrolling, which has always been a problem for the app, seems a lot better now. Searching, which was always kind of weird (possibly because it’s using the same search used for amazon.com) seems a little better too.
The stuff that is most definitely not getting better
First of all Prime Video has audio problems. You can search for yourself and you’ll find tons of cases of lipsync problems, low volume, and sound that doesn’t work. The app has practically no content in Dolby Atmos. Atmos gives the ability to have sound not only in surround, but above and below the listener. I wouldn’t say it’s a must have, but it does enhance the experience a little bit if you have the right hardware.
The bigger problem is content. I was not as impressed by The Rings of Power as other people were. There were some things that didn’t really interest me at all, and I really felt a little bitter about how the whole season was basically a prequel. I don’t want to get spoilery, but after 8 hours, they didn’t manage to tell anything resembling a full story.
I’m even less charitable toward The Peripheral, which finished up its first season last month. I am a huge fan of William Gibson, the author of the original source material. I wasn’t just bored by the show, though; I was actively turned off. It’s amazing to me that Amazon managed to turn a story about the end of the world and its aftermath into a dull procedural. This show was produced by the same people who helmed Westworld, and we know they can make good TV. This was just not it.
It’s the content
That’s the bottom line here. Prime Video just doesn’t have a lot of compelling content. Their originals are really hit or miss and they just don’t have a lot of good catalog material. They have a LOT of stuff, I’ll give them that. It’s just not that good. In fact most of it is actively bad. It’s the sort of stuff you’d find in the dollar bin at the Walmart in the days when we all got physical media.
And all of this really comes down to that simple fact. Prime Video doesn’t HAVE to be good. They can be a repository for every weird piece of content out there and it doesn’t have to make money. I’ll even go so far as to say that having good content is probably bad for Prime Video! Why do I say that? Good content costs more than bad content, and Prime Video pays for every piece of content you see. Since Prime Video doesn’t have its own profit and loss statement, there’s no benefit to really bringing top-notch, expensive content to the service.
Both The Rings of Power and The Peripheral were incredibly expensive to produce, and many of Amazon’s originals are similarly expensive. It’s hard to know exactly how much is spent, since Amazon doesn’t have to reveal that. But it has to be a lot when you look at the amount of CGI involved. At some point you have to expect that Amazon will get tired of spending money on original programming “just because.” At that point the app will probably get even worse.
What do you think?
Do you think that Prime Video is worth spending time with? Have there been shows you like? Leave a comment and let’s get the discussion started!
