Customer data has been at the center of some standoffs between Amazon Prime Video Channels and third-party streaming services.
But now Amazon is testing out a customer data sharing agreement with at least one streaming service: Discovery+. During a keynote interview today at Fierce Video’s StreamTV World conference, Elisabetta Carruba, general manager of Prime Video Channels in Europe, confirmed the test. When asked about potential business models where streaming services could distribute on Channels and share the customer data/relationship, she said her company is in the early stages of trialing this arrangement with Discovery’s recently launched subscription streaming video service.
“We don’t have a scalable solution…but it is fair to say from our service that we have one in place for Discovery+. We are running a test. Again, it’s a very manual process for us so we don’t know yet how this is going to perform, and so we will see in the foreseeable future,” said Carruba. “We share some information, yes, and customers know exactly…At the moment of signup, we tell consumers what exactly we’re going to share.”
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It’s unclear if the test will extend to the U.S. or to other third-party streaming services, but it’s significant considering how much control over user data has played a role in standoffs between Amazon and streaming services.
HBO Max earlier this year made the strategic decision to remove HBO Max from Channels, a decision which ultimately contributed to a decline in U.S. subscribers for the service during the most recent quarter.
Andy Forssell, general manager at HBO Max, spoke with Bloomberg about his company’s decision to leave Channels, which helped HBO grow but limited its ability to build direct relationships with customers.
“It’s important for us to own the customer,” he told the publication. “If the viewer is in the app, we can tailor the home page to them. We can tailor what they show them next. We can respond to that in real time.”
Carruba said Amazon doesn’t typically share identifiable information with streaming video services. She also shared that sometimes streaming services aren’t sure what they want the customer data for and, if it’s about marketing and promoting content, Amazon is able to offer the tools to do that on their behalf.