Kelly Day also says streamer’s international budgets are being maintained despite sports investments
Prime Video is looking to replicate on a local level the success that Mr Beast and his Beast Games competition show has had on the Amazon-owned streamer.
Kelly Day, vice president of international at Prime Video, pointed to the show’s 50 million views in its first 25 days as a reason to expand the search for future influencer-led projects that could do a similar job on a local level, albeit with smaller reach.
Day, who joined Prime Video from what was then ViacomCBS three years ago, said Amazon had been surprised by the extent of the series reach, particularly given the genre in which it was in.
“It’s unusual to see an unscripted show travel so well, resonating in so many different countries is an anomaly,” she said at NATPE Global.
“We had high exectations, but it has exceeded them. His popularity is vast around the world and we saw Beast Games do very well off the back of that.”
Day admitted that the show had “all come together quickly” and had been unlike anything the streamer had tried before, but she added there is now the potential for more.
“We want to be open and excited by all sorts of ideas,” she continued, adding that her roughly 20 studio teams around the world producing local content are now looking at replicating the show’s recipe.
“We are talking to various influencers and local creators in lots of countries. We’ve done it with Mr Beast, and that is on an unusual level, but there are lots of opportunities to work with all sorts of social talent now.”
Day added that unscripted remained a key genre for Prime Video and dismissed reports that the streamer’s spending on sports rights, which range from NBA and NFL rights in the US to Champions League football in the UK, are affecting her ability to invest elsewhere.
“[Sports] are a core part of the strategy but to be clear we are continuing to ramp up spend and invest. There have been things written about us cutting money here to put it there - we don’t share details about that but I’d say there’s always more that people don’t see.
“Sports are part of the dynamic, it’s about getting the mix of global originals, local originals, pay one and two [window] films and TV series. At the end of the day, it is about the optimal combination for customers,” she said, adding that sports rights tended to be “a decision made on a country level.”
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