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Amazon Prime launches in Asia and the world as video streaming competition intensifies

Amazon has launched Amazon Prime Video in Asia, and globally, in a move that will add yet another player in the increasingly competitive video streaming battleground.

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The launch has seen the video platform – which boasts series such as The Grand Tour, Transparent, Bosch and Mozart in the Jungle – become available in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

Customers in new Prime Video territories can sign up to the service at an introductory price of US$2.99 for the first six months, starting with a free seven-day trial, with the price then increasing to the full US$5.99.

In Asia, it has launched in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

In India, the service is included with Prime at no additional charge.

The launch will add new competition to an already congested market which includes Netflix, which entered Asia at the start of the year, iflix, Viu and Singtel-owned Hooq which launched in Singapore last month.

Hooq logoIn a sign of the fiercely competitive nature of the sector, Hooq chief executive Peter Bithos said during a launch event that he expected to see “dead bodies” this time next year as the OTT market in Southeast Asia begins to consolidate.

“The first to go will be the local players in the individual markets. They just won’t be able to keep up,” Bithos said. “This time next year you’ll see some dead bodies on the floor, not everyone’s going to make it. But we’ll be around.”

Iflix chief executive Mark Britt likened the market to a “knuckle fight” in an interview with Mumbrella Asia, branding the Asia market as “tough and messy”.

Prime Video vice president, international, Tim Leslie, said of its global launch: “We are excited to announce that, starting today, fans around the world have access to Prime Video.

“The Grand Tour and other critically acclaimed Amazon Original Series like Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle and The Man in the High Castle, along with hundreds of popular Hollywood movies and TV shows, are now available at the introductory price of only 2.99 a month. And what’s really exciting is that we are just getting started.”

Amazon Prime Video offers users content in English with French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles and dubbed versions for many titles.

Members can watch content anytime, anywhere, through the Amazon Prime Video app on Android or iOS phones and tablets, Fire Tablets and on LG and Samsung Smart TVs online at PrimeVideo.com.

Members are also able to download all movies and TV shows for offline viewing.

The app allows members to control how much data they use when streaming and downloading by choosing between good, better and best visual quality settings.

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Amazon Prime Video’s automated and machine learning systems will also select the best streaming configurations for a given customer based on their device, location and Internet Service Provider, providing better visual quality and fewer interruptions – even when internet connection speeds are slow or highly variable.

Users downloading the Amazon Prime Video app from the Google Play store will be intrigued to note the warning the app includes ads; however, it is not clear if this is a generic message from Google Play.

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