Amazon wants to get you hooked on Prime. In the latest attempt to lure members to its $99 per year subscription service, the company is making several of its pilots available on the Amazon Video YouTube channel and Facebook page. The same episodes are also streaming for free on Amazon.com without a Prime subscription.
Fans of Amazon’s critically-acclaimed dramas “The Man in the High Castle” and “Transparent” can now stream the new seasons’ pilots for free. The premiere episode of Amazon’s new 1985 comedy “Red Oaks” and several kids shows are also streaming free.
The move, originally reported by Deadline, is part of Amazon’s broader strategy to attract Prime members using high-quality original content. In addition to the annual subscription fee, the Prime program encourages customer loyalty and helps Amazon sell more products through its giant e-commerce portal.
That relationship, in part, explains Amazon’s unorthodox shift into the entertainment business. CEO Jeff Bezos likes to say that Amazon “may be the only company to ever successfully convert Golden Globe wins into more shoe and diaper sales.”