Amazon Prime subscribers will eventually be enjoying even more great TV content through the site's streaming video service. Amazon announced today that they've secured a multi-year video licensing agreement with Viacom, which will add a selection of TV shows available exclusively through Prime Instant Video.
From what Amazon says, this deal means Prime Instant Video will be adding thousands of episodes from channels like Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. MTV and Comedy Central, as well as "a collection of subscription TV shows customers won't find anywhere else."
Prime members will now have unlimited instant streaming access to popular kids programming such as Bubble Guppies, The Backyardigans, Team Umizoomi, Blue’s Clues and Victorious, along with top-rated shows fromMTV and COMEDY CENTRAL like Awkward, Tosh.0 and Workaholics. Prime members will also have access to future episodes of Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Fairly Odd Parents, Fresh Beat Band and more. LOVEFiLM customers in the UK and Germany will get some of the same great shows later this summer.
As kid shows are especially popular on Prime Instant Video, it sounds like Amazon's looking to expand on that as well, and this deal should help them do that, not only through Prime Instant Video, but also through their tablet. Select shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. are going to be made available through Amazon's Kindle FreeTime Unlimited service, which can be used on Amazon's tablet eReader, the Kindle Fire.
Deadline points out that Viacom's streaming carriage agreement with Netflix recently expired, as Netflix is currently in the market for exclusivity with their programming deals. Based on a recent report that says Netflix accounted for about 89% of the TV streams, with Hulu Plus accounting for 10% and Amazon Prime 2% - there's some overlap in people who subscribe to more than one service, which probably explains the math seeming a bit off there - it sounds like Netflix can afford to be a bit choosier with their content these days. In the meantime, the added content that comes with the Viacom deal may give Amazon a boost in subscribers.
