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Amazon Prime Video App is now available for Windows 10 devices

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After a long wait, the Windows users can finally download their favorite videos from the Amazon Prime Video App. Yesterday, the company announced the launch of this prime video app exclusively for Windows 10 users. One can download the app on their desktop or any other Windows 10 devices from the Microsoft Store. The app went live yesterday and it is available now for the Indian customers as well.

Previously, before the app was launched, Windows users were still able to stream prime video content from browsers like Chrome. But, they still faced the disadvantage of not able to download and watch any video offline. So, this new Amazon Prime Video App will permit you to download the prime video content and watch it offline.

Watch Party feature for the US

Apart from launching a new app for the Windows customers, Amazon Prime Video also introduced a new feature called Watch Party last week. Currently, this new feature is only available for prime users in the US which will eventually expand its user base. The new Watch Party feature allows prime members to watch videos together with friends from a different location.

So, through this new feature Amazon prime video allows a maximum of 100 viewers in a group. But, each viewer must have a US-based Prime subscription otherwise they won’t get access to this feature. And, after joining a group, one can choose any TV show or movie both from licensed and original category. Watch Party doesn’t allow to stream TV shows or movies that are available either for rent or purchase. Moreover, this feature is only available for desktop users. The company didn’t make any announcement regarding a similar feature for smartphones.

Strong competition for Netflix and Hulu

Amazon Prime Video has always been a strong rival of Netflix and Hulu. But, with the service launching new features and getting new content might get things heated up. Amazon Prime video now has originals like Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Jack Ryan, The Big Sick, The Boys, Homecoming, etc.

The demand for Amazon Prime Video is not going flat anytime soon especially after the introduction of the Watch Party feature. Apart from video streaming and watching it with friends and family, it also comes with a chat feature. So, anyone in the group can talk to all the other viewers in the group. To include viewers in the group the host needs to share a private link. So, the working process is similar to today’s video conferencing apps like Zoom, Cisco Webex, etc.

After Amazon Prime video launched the feature of Watch Party, Netflix along with Disney and WarnerMedia is trying to pull off something similar.

Payment for the new app

The Prime video is already free for the Amazon Prime subscribers as they pay $119 annually. For Windows users, they can download the Amazon Prime Video app for free from the Microsoft store. But, a monthly subscription fee of $8.99 is required for getting access to Amazon Prime Video.

Video quality

It is found that the new Prime Video app for the Windows 10 users doesn’t allow video streaming above 720p resolution. The same goes for the prime video app for the iPad as well. If the Windows users use browsers like Chrome, they can stream videos at 1080p.

But, the app claims to stream and download videos at a maximum of 1080p. When the user will try to download any video, he or she will be offered three quality choices, Good, Better, and Best. Higher quality will occupy more space and consume more data.

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Jason Kilar- Founder And CEO Of Hulu To Become The Next CEO Of Warnermedia

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The film industry has witnessed rapid growth for our love for entertainment. From the film studios to the movie theatres, from the orchestras to the operas, everything has bloomed over the past century. Every business has its ups and downs, but the annual revenue of the entertainment industry is rather hefty. Moreover, the pandemic has opened a huge slot of making money for the modern ways of entertainment, that is, the internet. The video streaming websites are having far more visitors during this lockdown than ever. Among these famous websites like Netflix and YouTube, Hulu has quite a remarkable journey. Founded in 2007, Hulu’s majority is owned by Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International. Jason Kilar founded the company along with five other founding executives and he became the CEO of Hulu in late 2007. John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia announced that Jason Kilar will be replacing him as the new CEO effective 1st May 2020.

Early Life of Jason Kilar

Born in Pittsburgh, Jason went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989. He acquired a double major in journalism and business administration and later went to Harvard Business School. After completing his bachelor’s, Jason worked as an Analyst at The Walt Disney Company for two years. He graduated from Harvard in 1997.

Career Life

In 1997, he joined Amazon as Director of Retail and left the company in 2006 after his post as Senior Vice President. Next year, Jason founded Hulu and became the CEO of the company. He also co-founded Vessel and served as its CEO for four years. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors for Univision Communications Inc, Opendoor, Habitat for Humanity International, and Wealthfront Inc.

New Responsibilities

As a grave position of responsibility is passed to a person with lucrative former experience, both the company and the audience embark on a new journey. For the starters, Jason’s responsibility will start with launching the ad-supportive HBO Max and making it a hit. But, Jason has said he would prefer sitting at the backseat while praising the work of Bob Greenblatt, CEO of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Director to Consumer.

Given what are the consequences of the global pandemic, the timing to welcome the new CEO of WarnerMedia is a bit odd. Movie theatres are closed for over a month, the advertising market is collapsing and negativity is winding up. So, to lighten up the mood in the room, Jason will just order pizzas and drinks for the team members of the project. And, he will give the liberty to take decisions and support them for the commendable work they have done so far.

Leadership at Hulu

Jason had shown an immense sense of responsibility and leadership at Hulu which has brought him here today. It is believed that the main reason for Hulu’s success is its smooth user experience. Hulu always had an easy and clean user interface with less load of advertising. And, most users found it very appealing although many media partners criticized it.

Jason understands how the approach of a website can change the preference for the users. For years, he has been dealing with customers in this industry. So, he always prefers establishing a trustworthy relationship with the audience and listen to their feedback carefully. Because, at the end of the day, the company is selling its product to the global audience. So, if any new invention or changes are amended, it should be for their better experience.

Future Goals

Jason has also spoken of the future planning for the company. According to him, the world has started becoming a fan of VOD. In a population of approximately 7.5 billion, only 200 million users pay for video services. So, the platform for video streaming has only started gaining popularity, and it has to go way too far. Jason also plans to invest in the right technology.

For the time being, the industry has taken a pause and it will bounce back hard after the novel coronavirus crisis. He also says that a pandemic like this will bring changes in the mentality of the customers. So, they have to play accordingly as well. The consumer behavior will change in the next ten years which will bring significant changes to how WarnerMedia thinks today.

Disney Plans to Expand in Streaming Business; Plans to Acquire 10% Hulu Stake from AT&T

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Reportedly, Disney is in talks with AT&T to acquire a 10 per cent stake that the latter holds in the streaming service media company Hulu, in order to expand its control over the company. AT&T carries the 10 per cent stakes in Hulu through its subsidiary WarnerMedia unit. Disney, currently, owns 30 per cent of shares in the streaming service and is already close to acquiring another majority stake in the same from the 21st Century Fox, which owns the rest of 30 per cent shares in the company.

Clearly, after the acquisition from 21st Century Fox and AT&T, Disney will be a 70 per cent stake owner in Hulu, and there will be only one other owner left with 30 per cent of the stakes in Hulu, i.e. the subsidiary of Comcast, NBCUniversal.

AT&T is in the process of settling off its extreme debts, and in 2018, it had announced that it would pay down at least $20 billion worth of debt in 2019, alone. Selling off the Hulu stakes is one of the major moves that the company has taken in order to settle its debts. It was in 2018 when the company announced that it is interested in selling its 10 per cent of shares it owns in Hulu. According to the reports, the deal between Disney and AT&T may close at $1 billion, which may help the latter to pay down its excessive debt to an extent.

Hulu has been providing its streaming services since 2007 but has always failed in front of its rivals including Netflix. But last year, the company started streaming its original content and gained much popularity among people. Also, the company registered 8 million new users in 2018. This increased client base has also increased the company’s worth. But still, it needs more focus and good content.

Disney already is looking forward to expanding its business in the streaming services and is working on its own home project for it, the Disney+. Disney+ will be a streaming service that will carry exclusive Disney movies and TV shows and will be launched by the end of this year. Initially, the service will be available domestically.

Hulu Updates Per Month Subscription Prices Soon After Netflix’s Price Hikes

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The American entertainment company, Hulu, has announced that it is going to cut down the prices for the base subscription plan of its monthly streaming service. The announcement has just come after a week of its rival company Netflix increased the prices for all of its subscription plans.

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Hulu, which is an ad-supported streaming service, has reduced the cost of its base plan, to $5.99 per month, down from the current cost, i.e. $7.99. Previously, for the purpose of promotion of its internet streaming service, the company was offering the same plan for this same price, and we must say that it was a brilliant strategy to drag more consumers towards. Now again, when one of the top streaming services, Netflix, has increased its prices, Hulu might take the advantage from it, by reducing the prices.

Netflix last week escalated the prices of all its subscription plans, starting with its most popular HD streaming plan, which is now $13 per month. Even having owned one of the prime streaming services worldwide, the company shared a fell just under 1 per cent, soon after the price increase on Wednesday.

Though Hulu is an ad-based service, having subscribers half of the Netflix’s, the prices it is offering to its customers is making them abandon cable and satellite services in favour of streaming.

Last year, the company reported that it had over 25 million subscribers, and it was a good number as, the number of subscribers had increased by 48 per cent, as compared to the number of users it had in 2017.

Although the company is lowering the prices of the base plan of the streaming service, it at the same time, is also hiking prices across its other subscription tiers. It has announced to is boost the prices of Hulu Live TV, a cable-TV-like a package, by $5 more per month at $44.99. Why such wide gap between the two? Hulu explained that the Hulu Live TV is offering more channels and services, including the full on-demand product, as compared to its internet streaming service.

Still, to overcome the gap, Hulu is lowering its fees for the live TV service’s optional add-ons, including the DVR and expanded multiscreen viewing packages. Now the company will offer the two at a price $9.99 per month.

For the new subscribers the new prices will take effect from February 26, and the older consumers will automatically be shifted to the new subscription prices in their next billing cycle after February 26.