According to a Bloomberg News report, Amazon.com's chief executive officer Jeff Bezos had been noted investing around USD10 million to USD50 million in Web series "Betas" and other similar shows. The investment was reportedly a strategic move for Bezos to attract viewers to lure sales dollars into its e-commerce site.
Betas is a comedy show about a band of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in their twenties. The protagonists in the show had been depicted working almost nonstop to create a social media site to compete with Facebook Inc.
Bezos was reportedly tapping into a new niche market in the midst of reclining traditional TV viewership. According to recent data by Nielsen Co, average number of TV watching by 18 to 24 year-olds reduced from 24 hours and 17 minutes a week last year to 21 hours and 32 minutes a week this year.
Although Amazon had not disclosed whether it had seen profits from its original Web content, the Web shows could help Amazon boost its programs like Amazon Prime. Customers could pay USD79 in annual fees to be able to access Amazon original Web shows, aside from quick shipping.
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