Amazon Prime Video’s restructuring will reverberate in SA through job losses and axed TV projects

23 Jan 2024

The streaming company plans to restructure its operations which will see it shift its focus and new investments into Europe, away from Africa and the Middle East. South Africa is one of the affected countries.

Amazon Prime Video reportedly plans to cut its investments in Africa, which will result in job losses and new television and film projects being scuppered.

The impact of Amazon’s decision will reverberate in South Africa, with several television and film projects that the company indicated early interest in commissioning being cancelled at the eleventh hour.

Online news site Deadline was the first to report that Amazon made the decision because the US subscription-based video-on-demand company wants to shift its focus and new investments into Europe. Deadline obtained an internal memo to Amazon staff, penned by the Prime Video Europe vice-president, Barry Furlong, who detailed the rationale behind closing the funding taps for Africa and the Middle East.

In the memo, Furlong said the restructure was part of a plan to prioritise resources “on what matters most to customers” and “rebalance and pivot resources to focus on the areas that drive the highest impact and long-term success”. He believed that the changes would improve the operational running of Amazon’s Prime Video business, making it “more agile and focused”.

Daily Maverick asked three officials at Amazon, who deal with media queries, about the company’s reported restructuring and its implications for South Africa’s film and television industry. No response had been received at the time of publication. It is unclear how many jobs in South Africa will be affected or eliminated as a direct result of Amazon’s move.

U-turn on growth plans in Africa

Amazon’s decision is perplexing considering how vocal it was about the need to expand into Africa after first making a foray in 2016. At the time, it earmarked expanding into 200 countries (including some in Africa) to compete with Netflix, which was also eyeing Africa for growth.

Amazon’s start in Africa was slow, with its television and film offerings failing to resonate with consumers. Most of the content was not tailored to local dynamics, languages, cultural differences and consumption patterns. Often content created in developed markets would be offered on the streaming platform in Africa, with little to no local content or adjustments to suit the local market.

By the end of 2021, Amazon Prime Video was estimated to reach 575,000 subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa. It wanted to grow its subscription numbers threefold by 2026. However, this goal now seems up in the air with its looming diversion of resources away from Africa.

Industry response

Some SA film and television producers have been taken aback by Amazon’s decision, saying it was made at the eleventh hour without an explanation to affected parties.

A producer and director told Daily Maverick that Amazon had shown an interest in commissioning television and film projects in South Africa — even entering into discussions in 2022 about bankrolling projects, setting up studios and buying streaming rights. However, in 2023, Amazon informed producers that it would not be going ahead with the projects.

The effect of Amazon’s decision is that the streaming services will still be available in South Africa. However, no further new television and film projects in South Africa or the rest of Africa will be rolled out or funded by the company to be available on its streaming platform.

Projects commissioned in South Africa before the company embarked on its restructuring exercise are safe and will be delivered. Among these projects are, according to News24, the upcoming Laugh Out Loud South Africa with host Trevor Noah (produced by South Africa’s Rapid Blue), and the Nigerian travelogue Ebuka Turns Up Africa series.

Some players in the SA film and television industry view Amazon’s decision as another blow, considering the industry has only recently recovered from disruptive Covid lockdowns and managed to withstand filming disruptions caused by Eskom blackouts and the government’s woeful support of the industry.

There are hopes that streaming services such as Netflix and MultiChoice’s Showmax will pick up and commission projects that were dropped by Amazon. Netflix and Showmax are pumping a lot of money into SA television projects and bolstering their reach in Africa. DM

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Africa

U-turn on growth plans in Africa

Industry response