Amazon Prime Video has been rolled out to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide at an introductory price point that is significantly lower than that of Netflix.
The service is now available at no extra cost to Amazon Prime subscribers in Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy and Spain, and everywhere else has been introduced at a price of $2.99 (or €2.99) per month for the first six months.
As with Netflix, the service is not available in China, but has added most of Europe, Asia and South America, including large emerging territories such as India and Brazil.
After six months, the service will cost $5.99 a month, which is still lower than Netflix’s monthly subscription price of $7.99 upwards. Netflix expanded its service to 130 new countries in January and is now available in 190 countries worldwide.
Amazon Prime’s initial global offerings include The Grand Tour, a popular remake of the BBC show Top Gear; Golden Globe-winning series Mozart In The Jungle (pictured), Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA-winner Transparent and Emmy-winner The Man In The High Castle.
Most Amazon Original kids series are also available globally, including animated adventure Creative Galaxy, live-action coming-of-age story Gortimer Gibbon’s Life On Normal Street and Emmy Award-winning series, Tumble Leaf.
Additional Amazon originals including Woody Allen’s Crisis In Six Scenes, David E. Kelley’s Goliath, docuseries American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story and Sneaky Pete, produced by Bryan Cranston and Graham Yost, will be added to the service next year.
Subscribers can watch the service through the Amazon Prime Video app on Android and iOS phones and tablets, Fire Tablets, LG and Samsung smart TVs or online at PrimeVideo.com. As with Netflix, subscribers will be able to download titles to mobile devices for offline viewing.
Subtitles and dubbed versions in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish will be available for many Amazon original titles.
Amazon Prime Video was expected to launch in India this week, but the timing of the rest of the global rollout comes as a surprise. The streaming giant has been bulking up on local content in India, including deals with leading film studios T-Series, Dharma Productions, Arka Mediaworks and Vishesh Films.
Amazon also announced today that it has started production on a large slate of Indian original TV shows, including three series with Excel Entertainment (Powerplay, Mirzapur and Made In Heaven), two with Phantom Films (Stardust and Vishpuri), and one each with Equinox Features (Bodhidharma: Master Of Shaolin), Abundantia Entertainment (Breathe), AIB and OML (The Ministry) and D2R Films (The Family Man).
In India, the service is available to Amazon Prime members for just $7.40 (Rs499) per year and customers are being offered a 30-day free trial of Prime membership.