At stop number 2 on the roadmap to online platform death, there’s a bright red dot labeled “Amazon Prime Video is here.” It’s one stop beyond a platform treating users well, and one leg short of it brutally extracting value from business partners, before cashing out and collapsing.
Amazon’s streaming service just reached phase two of Cory Doctorow’s politely euphemized “platform decay” — the phase where users take a hit to improve business partners’ outlooks — when Kelly Day, Prime Video International vice president, disclosed plans to increase advertising spots on the multinational streaming platform (via Financial Times).
A fair account of Prime Video’s value
POV: You’re trying not to ruin a good thing
Source: Google
This seems irresponsible.
Amazon’s bundling of streaming with fast, free shipping is the perfect example of a platform treating users well. Frequent online shopping quickly offsets the Prime subscription cost, leading to practically free streaming.
Prime Video’s had a great two years, with millions of viewers enjoying Fallout and Rings of Power (despite several disapproving Tolkien fanatics, including one Android Police reporter). Now we know Amazon can produce good TV, and it knows we’ll patiently suffer through ads.
Plus, it isn’t stagnating. Rationalizing the upcoming 2025 ad uptick, Day cited increased spending on sports league rights, election coverage, and music events — things people want to watch. And it apparently tested the waters with a “very light ad load”, which platforms like YouTube blew past long ago.
A few commercials are OK — emphasis on “a few”
Its executives should heed the third and fourth stages of Doctorow’s crudely titled phenomenon. After extracting customers’ value (here, with a potential ad inundation), big platforms eventually bully partners into returning any gains to the source.
To wit: Amazon’s retail arm copied product designs and pushed originators out via rigged search results for years, and can no longer hide its preference for paid preference and low-effort dropshipping. Thanks to its massive retail foothold, the slowed delivery and reduced selection of Prime-eligible products makes a subscription less valuable than ever. Amazon shopping may live forever, but separating the chaff keeps getting tougher.
Prime Video crafted laudable entertainment from beloved franchises over the past 24 months (subscription tier fragmenting and Rings of Power costuming notwithstanding). Those in charge could practice moderation in advertisement, and avoid serving repeated, too-loud, unskippable ads. We hope they do, because Prime Video won’t die, but could become a zombie.
