IBC Keynote: Prime Video backs AI to redefine intuitive streaming

As entertainment shifts to streaming, the battle for viewers will not be lost or won on the quality of content alone but the ability to serve people what they want, quickly.

“What we hear from customers is that they want a simple experience,” says Girish Bajaj, Vice President, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Technology, who will keynote IBC on September 14. “They tend to be very frustrated with all of the choices that they have today in streaming as well as managing multiple accounts across multiple different apps.

“Based on customer feedback, it is very clear to us that they want to spend less time searching and more time watching content. This is what we work on every single day,” he says.

According to research firm Nielsen’s 2023 State of Play report, using data from its Gracenote arm, US consumers spend over 10 minutes trying to decide what to watch.

“Our focus is to build a product for Amazon Prime Video that is simple to use because customers are seeking simplicity.”

Building it is not quite so simple however. Not when another goal is to personalise the entertainment experience for its more than 200 million members worldwide.

Improved AI for content discovery

Amazon recently debuted an entirely new AI-powered interface intended to streamline and enhance the overall content discovery experience with more personalised recommendations.

“We want them to have more control over their streaming appearance. We think that’s the way to reshape the future of entertainment video,” Bajaj says.

Amazon aims to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ for video entertainment by aggregating a vast amount of premium programming in a single app. These range from Amazon MGM originals, and live sports (like Thursday Night Football in the US). It also serves programming from partners as an add-on subscription, such as Max and Crunchyroll (you can even subscribe to services like Paramount Plus via Prime Video), plus dozens of FAST channels of which there are plenty more upcoming, he says.

The UEX redesign offers different rows of recommended content, depending on which profile you’re signed in to. Prime Videos’ recommendation engine is being built from Amazon Bedrock, a tool for creating generative AI experiences based on what you have watched previously. It also offers new categories to help you find content based on taste and what is ultra-popular in different regions.

The company is using AI to scale and deliver on its personalisation promise something which Bajaj will elaborate on at IBC. He says, “We use computer vision and machine learning, specialised hardware, distributed systems, and AI quite extensively at Amazon and in Prime Video. We think it’s very core to what we do and we leverage both traditional AI as well as generative AI to build and power recommendations.”

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Building a seamless user experience

“We think long-form video is really, really important […] There’s a future for it and we’ll continue to lean into it” Girish Bajaj, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Technology

Bajaj started with Amazon in 2006, as a Software Development Engineer helping to develop Kindle, and in 2012 joined Prime Video. Since then, he has launched the technology that powers the company’s channels business, expanded the service in over 200 countries and territories, rolled out the X-Ray features which give additional TV and movie information during playback and launched Prime Video Ads.

As a senior technology executive, Bajaj now spends a deal of his time optimising the tech stack to ensure the platform delivers for customers.

“We have to ensure an equally positive experience for all types of content, whether that’s a series or a movie or a live event and whether that member is in a city or the countryside. We spend a lot of time working with partners who have the scale and capabilities to meet these needs as well as trying to stay ahead of innovations. We spend a lot of time obsessing about building a high-quality streaming experience that works at scale. A global streaming product is not easy to do. It is very complex and we build features for every single content type.”

That includes a particular focus on live events where Bajaj’s aim is to enable viewing with the lowest latency possible. “We don’t want customers to find out about a score or some attribute of the game before they see it and have that spoiled for them.” This is something he will also delve into at IBC.

Amazon even employs AI to help spot issues before they arise for content distribution. Depending on where you’re connecting from, it will use a method to determine the best AWS cloud from which to pull the content.

With younger viewing demographics chalking up more time on social media and YouTube it’s worth asking how Amazon Prime sees the future of long-term long-form video.

“We think long-form video is really, really important and a key way that customers engage with content,” Bajaj insists. “It’s going to stay and we’re optimised for long-form premium content. There’s a future for it and we’ll continue to lean into it.”

T-Commerce

“We think shoppable TV is a key part of the value proposition” Girish Bajaj, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Technology

Shoppable TV – the notion of connecting viewers directly to retail sites from the Connected TV – is another area of revenue growth for Amazon. Earlier this year advertising giant GroupM and its clients including Danone agreed to develop original, shoppable content for the Amazon Live FAST (free ad-supported TV) channel.

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Previously, Amazon Live produced a travel-focused shoppable stream during a Virgin Voyages sailing, enabling viewers to virtually immerse themselves in the cruise experience for the first time and shop AI-powered image-generation vacation packages. Another brand, Method, integrated its Simply Nourish haircare products within Amazon Live’s “Beauty Haul” and “Get Ready with Me” episodes, where host Brandi Milloy inspired viewers with trending beauty tips while they could conveniently shop the featured products.

“We think shoppable TV is a key part of the value proposition. We bring the platform to our partners as well as our consumers where they can watch something that they love but also be able to shop for the products either they find interesting in the show itself or shop for something that’s related to the show in some way.

“It’s all about giving customers multiple ways to engage with Prime Video and our service.”

Girish Bajaj presents the Keynote: ‘Building a future-ready tech stack for an evolving media landscape’ at IBC2024 on Saturday 14 September.

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