Success Stories (U24: D1)

Learning Outcome 1 (U24): Understand the products that are produced within and across media industries.


D1 (U24): Discuss how successful media concepts have been positively exploited across multiple media industries

Amazon Prime





In Amazon's 25 years of existence, Amazon has grown to become the top commerce platform in the country. More than 197 million people around the world use their devices and visit Amazon. Amazon is an online market place, where customers can find just about anything that they desire on it. Initially, Amazon was an online bookstore, but after the founder, Jeff Bezos read a report on the future of internet selling, he wrote up a list of 20 products that could be marketed online. He branched out from books into film and music initially, before widening the number of products available; nowadays, Amazon is a global leader in online selling - the benchmark for all others.

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One of Amazon's early acquisitions was LoveFilm, between 2008 and 2011 - initially, Amazon bought out a portion of the company before eventually acquiring it in its entirety. LoveFilm was innovative in the way in which it distributed film - the idea was that users could rent DVDs via the company. The DVDs would be sent out as physical copies, and once watched, they would be returned to the company for another set of DVDs. Users would create film watch lists, and would work their way through these lists via the company's huge library. However, due to the advent of streaming, physical copies of films were starting to become obsolete, with consumers able to access and view large online film libraries. From this, Amazon Prime was developed.

Amazon Prime is an add-on that Amazon introduced in 2005. At first, it was just a standard deal; you paid a flat annual fee of $79, and got free next day shipping and discounts on exclusive deals. Over time, this bundle materialised into a package, which would include other services, such as Amazon Film and more. Amazon Prime is a bundle that can be accessed worldwide, with its benefits open for all who are willing to pay the annual fee. Amazon Prime can be used on multiple devices, but the payment is only valid for one account, unless you choose to pay for more. 

Amazon Prime allows the consumer to access exclusive benefits and priorities that are not open to people who choose to not pay for Prime. One of these exclusive benefits is the ability to get specific Amazon products next day, with Prime delivery. Amazon advertise this by allowing consumers to only look at items that are able to be purchased with Prime benefits. Having this filter allows people who haven't purchased Prime view the benefits of the service, enticing the into purchasing Prime. As well as this, it allows people who did make the decision to purchase Prime specifically look at the the items that they can purchase with the Prime benefits. 



People who purchased Prime are also able to use this to get benefits in other fields. Amazon work with different companies, such as EA Sports and the Amazon-owned games streaming service Twitch to give their users specific benefits and rewards. The most recent of which being Amazon Prime users can link their account to Twitch, and use 'Twitch Prime', a service which allows you to comment, subscribe to and support your favourite content makers. 

EA Sports gave prime members a free pack on their popular game mode 'Fifa 19 Ultimate Team'. These collaborations with other big companies creates brand exposure, convincing more and more people to purchase the service. Both Fifa and Twitch have a predominately young consumer market, so using these platforms for exclusive prime benefits advertises the service to a different audience and demographic, boosting the sales of the service.  

Consumers can access Amazon Film, Amazon’s version of an online streaming platform, offering similar content to Netflix, as well as offering their own content. This business model was originally developed by Netflix, who saw a gap in the market for their own content; Amazon took inspiration from this concept, and developed their own production company, producing, developing, distributing and exhibiting their own shows. This gives consumers an incentive to purchase Prime, because Amazon will have exclusive access to these shows.

Amazon Film is a Prime exclusive, giving consumers more of a reason to pay for Prime services. Amazon made Amazon Film a Prime exclusive as a way to entice people into purchasing Prime, as it would be viewed as a bundle investment. Amazon included Amazon Film as part of Prime as this meant Prime would offer something for everyone. It’s linking to Twitch is mostly based at a younger demographic, whilst the Amazon own shows are mainly targeted to an older one. Doing this starts a conversation amongst the family, with both the youngest and the oldest members both seeing plausible reasons for the purchase of Prime. 


Amazon is very specific with their advertisement placements. To appeal to its wide variety of intended demographics, Amazon uses a number of different platforms that fit best with each intended target audience, for example their link with EA Sports Fifa 19, which was used to branch out Twitch 
Prime to the young demographic which both Twitch and FIFA attract. Amazon does this to ensure that it will appeal to the younger demographics and be noticed by the younger audiences themselves, instead of relying on word of mouth to pass on this information. Advertising the aspects of Prime that would appeal to the younger audiences, on platforms that are heavily used by people from this younger demographic, allows Amazon too directly target these people, resulting in them sharing Prime details with people in their family, resulting in a conservation building, fast tracking the information , bringing in more consumers. 

Prime music is available on all Amazon Echo and Alexa devices. This gives consumers another incentive, appealing to music lovers of all ages. Not just music, Alexa offers a multitude of Prime only benefits and shortcuts, designed to make everyday easier. With a Prime account linked to the Alexa device, users can discover exclusive deals, with Alexa reading out a list of the prime delusive items and how much of a saving you’ll be making. With Prime, customers can get more out of their 
Alexa device, encouraging them to purchase Prime to get the full Amazon Alexa experience. 

On ‘Prime Day’ which fell on the 15th July, Amazon really pushed all the exclusive deals that were available by using vast celebrity endorsements. Amazon does this to connect a familiar face to the products that are being discounted and sold. Having celebrity connections like Jaden and Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, Kobe Bryant, amongst others, Amazon are appealing to not only fans of Prime and the product itself, but fans of the celebrity that is connecting their name and face to the product. Celebrity endorsements open up the products to a new audience, thus increasing the number of Prime users. 

The graph below shows that there are 101 million paying Amazon Prime users, in the US alone. This rose from 40 million users in 2015. This represents  (roughly) a 150% rise in only 3 years. This shows the add ons that Amazon has added to the Prime bundle have attracted a large number of new users. The graph also shows that Prime members spend, on average, $1,400 per year on Amazon products, whilst non-members spend $600. This demonstrates how important Prime members are to the Amazon business model, as they form a loyal customer base.


This is down to Amazon advancing the Prime benefits that are included in the purchase of Prime. Amazon adding Prime benefits encouraged consumers to purchase Prime, as it gave people more for their money. Its first introduction in 2005 offered free two day shipping and discounted next day shipping for an expensive price. Inclusions of Amazon Film, Prime music and Twitch Prime enticed people into purchasing the Prime bundle, as it gave them more for what they were paying for.  

Amazon is one of the best examples of a media product that has been hugely successful. Its growth over the past fifteen years has been astronomical, and it has become one of the global leaders in internet sales. This is due to the fact that it has adapted its business to trends in digital technologies.




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