Jennifer Salke from Amazon Prime Video, Kelly Day via Japan Anime Strategy

Amazon relies on Japanese anime and Asian content as the cornerstone of Prime Video's global expansion strategy.

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, and Kelly Day, VP of International for Prime Video, outlined her ambitious vision for streaming service in the region in an exclusive interview with one of his largest markets outside the US Video, in an exclusive interview with diversity. “We are very committed to a strong pipeline for customers in Japan. We have a great chance, ”said Salke.

Japan is one of the most valuable areas of Prime Video and offers a large market business with 72 add-on subscriptions and almost 300,000 titles for Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD). Salke said that Prime video is “committed to a growing board”, especially when it comes to licensing the original anime. “One of the most exciting things we do here in Japan is to enlarge our plans for the enlargement of those who take advantage of the content strategy for the next few years,” she added.

The streaming service has already established itself as the market leader in Japan. Day noted that the country “has one of the largest installation base points for Prime members”, which makes it one of our largest markets outside the USA.

When Salke was asked about maintaining a competitive advantage in Japan, he confirmed that anime was a priority. “We have a great commitment to an anime table that we pull together and the teams all work on it,” she said. “There are a lot of exciting things in the works we look forward to, and that is a constant obligation.”

When Salke looked at the next phase for Japanese and Asian content, he was optimistic about projects such as “The Silent Service”, based on a popular Kodansha Manga, which had a theater publication in partnership with Toho before the premiere on the streaming platform. And “Oshi-no-Ko”, a live action adaptation of a Shueisha-Manga.

Day emphasized the growing international attraction of content from Asia: “We see more global opportunities for some of the different titles that come from Asia, especially anime and the K-dramas, which we get more of both and distribute them more around the world.”

Salke added: “We see how locally expanded all along the world, with big hit shows for women and YA audience from Germany, with 'Maxton Hall' and the 'Culpa' series and then the K-Dramas. And we expect a lot more from Japan and India, of which we believe they will also deliver. ”

In what content helps to travel internationally, Day pointed to two critical factors: “One is a big IP – it could be a popular manga or the popular anime that is developed and distributed all over the world. The second is how much they create social sums. “

“Marriage my husband”, a Korean drama illustrates this trend. According to the day, it “traveled” very well through social media, appealed to young women who are very active on social media and have had a lot of social conversations around the world, which then drove many new customers on the platform “.

With regard to theater distribution strategy, Salke confirmed that Amazon is still “very committed to theater” and has a big upcoming table. “We noticed that with Big film publications such as 'Red One' and 'Air' and others, the cinema publication only improved the effects of these titles on the Prime video and made some of them the biggest titles we have ever had,” said Salke.

Several MGM titles, including “Air”, “Saltburn”, “Challengers” and “Red One”, were distributed internationally by Warner Bros., but Salke said that the company would soon have its own international sales low. “We'll occupy that now,” she said. “Since MGM comes on board and the teams that are united behind the strategy of the theater to at some point to free video customers at home -we think we have a really incredible start,” said Salke.

With regard to mobile subscriptions for Prime video that were successful in markets such as India, the day showed that such localized pricing models, although they are currently not available in Japan, are taken into account from country to country, whereby plans are already being implemented in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia.

Salke was enthusiastic about his potential on the subject of AI and new technology. “As a company, we bow to AI overall. We are very happy about the technology and what you can do for our business and in our whole life, but for the studio we see it as an absolute tool to put creative people and creators into their hands to improve storytelling, ”she said.

Salke noticed that the AI ​​is already being hugged by the Creator: “I had just had a large pitch with someone who presented a visual deck created by AI.” She said that the focus is on “putting it in the hands of human artists and creators” and at the same time examining the efficiency improvements in production, special effects and automatic processes.

And of course the name on all lips has recently been in relation to the James Bond company, the iconic property that Amazon MGM Studios achieved creative control last month. Salke remained close to certain plans for the franchise company, but confirmed that they “go through a process in the USA through the deal for final permits”.

“We are very happy about it,” she said. “It came a little time and we can't wait to jump into the world of the bond.”