This is Amazon's next big streaming bet
source link: https://www.fastcompany.com/90791542/this-is-amazons-next-big-streaming-bet
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This is Amazon’s next big streaming bet
With ‘Citadel,’ an ambitious series headlined by Priyanka Chopra Jonas that will spawn local spinoffs, Amazon is investing in interconnected storytelling on a global scale.
A few years ago, not long after she took the helm of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke pitched an idea that she thought could set Amazon apart as a streaming destination. Salke envisioned an ambitious flagship series that could spawn local spinoffs and satellite shows to draw in a global audience across countries like India and Italy. But she needed to recruit show creators who could take that format and run with it—which led her to the Russo brothers, who had directed multiple wildly successful Marvel movies.
“My brother Joe and I have had an amazing relationship with Jen Salke for many years now,” Anthony Russo said during a panel at the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Thursday. “She called us one day and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea that I want for a show.’ And she goes, I don’t know what it’s about—but this would be the concept.'”
[Photo: Celine Grouard for Fast Company]The project is an extension of the “universe storytelling” that Russo and his brother are already doing through their production company AGBO, which grew out of their experience with interconnected narratives in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For Amazon, however, Citadel is a big bet—and an opportunity to gain significant market share as the largest streamer in the country after Netflix. Amazon already has more than 200 million Prime subscribers across the world (though about 150 million of them are reportedly American users). According to a 2021 report by analytics firm Digital-i, Netflix and Amazon have both seen an uptick in users consuming non-English language content.
It was an obvious decision for Chopra Jonas, who was immediately drawn to the show’s global ambitions. “You don’t have to watch the American show to understand; [the local language series] stands alone,” she said. “But if you watch all the other shows, they’re all connected—and that’s never been done in television. It’s such an interesting experiment, especially for a streamer like Amazon that caters to audiences across the world. To be able to offer a show which cross-pollinates audiences and languages is just so exciting to me. So it was innovative, and that’s what I loved about it.”
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