Prime Video’s curious reliance on focus groups

Why read this story?

Editor's note: There’s no doubt that Amazon is serious about Prime Video, both as a way of acquiring new shoppers and as a streaming service in its own right. At the moment, Amazon Prime Video is gearing for the launch of a new season of Mirzapur, one of the most successful shows the platform has had in India. The advertising dollars spent on the crime thriller are already starting to show. Makes sense⁠—original series are a big draw for the top streaming services; however, there’s something interesting about how Amazon is going about it in India. Take Mirzapur: Amazon’s ad blitz has focused for the most part on young males, according to a content executive aware of the details, who asked not to be named. Audience targeting is not new, especially for online platforms rich in user and viewing data, but Amazon India isn’t going by that—instead, the company is relying largely on an 11-year-old media research and consulting company called Ormax Media, according to the same executive. When Amazon tested its show with Ormax, the “likeability” was higher among males. And …