Focus on the future
New formats, new features, new topics: Germany CEO Christoph Schneider sees great growth potential for the Amazon Prime streaming service. Our author Christoph Henn met Schneider for an interview with photographer Robert Fischer for XPLR: MEDIA. The result is available in the online magazine, the print magazine and as a video.
You can already find an insight here:
How much time do you spend watching TV, Mr. Schneider?
I have to watch a lot of TV for work, although my children would say: You're allowed to. But I also watch privately with the family. And that's across the board, streaming, pay and free TV.
There's a wide range of offerings, on free TV and streaming providers. What does Amazon Prime Video do to stand out from the competition?
We don't look at the competition, we focus on the customers. We're interested in what they want and how they react. Our market research and customer feedback show that our large and broad selection of content is extremely important. Our goal is to offer the favorite program for everyone.
The Watch Party function allows users to chat while watching content. What do you expect from this?
In the past, there was the shared viewing experience in the family, the famous campfire. Today, given the increased range of content and different interests, it's difficult to get a whole family in front of the TV for a show. Still, many want a shared experience. Watch Party makes that possible, because you can watch something with friends at the same time in different places and talk about it.
Are there other features within your offering that you think are innovative?
Our download function, which allows content to be downloaded to a smartphone or tablet for offline use, was a significant innovation. It's something that all the other providers have subsequently adopted. Another feature that may help Amazon Prime Video gain a small edge is X-Ray. With X-Ray, viewers can have information superimposed - in addition to the moving image - such as the actors' names and vitae. X-Ray is particularly attractive in the sports sector, where it will probably be possible to call up analyses, information on players or the latest goal scene at any time from next year. Our analyses show that this service function is being used intensively.
You can find the entire interview online at XPLR: MEDIA, among other places.
