Amazon may be one of the biggest companies in the world, but their streamer has always been jankier than the others. Where Netflix, Hulu, and even the Criterion Channel offer smooth interfaces with well-organized curation, Prime Video is more like one of those chaotic vintage stores where staffers still haven’t gotten around to separating used DVDs from copies of Dan Brown pageturners. But now the streamer that Jeff Bezos built is belatedly getting a facelift.
Amazon is finally redesigning Prime Video’s user interface. pic.twitter.com/sMpy0ahd7f
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 18, 2022
As per The New York Times, Amazon has started slowly rolling out a new interface some 18 months in the making. Not all subscribers have access to it yet, but those that do can see a more simplified main navigation page, as well as more direct routes to some of the newer parts of their library, including live TV and the new library of films and TV acquired from their $8.5 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which includes all the Bond films (minus, of course, the non-canon Never Say Never Again).
What’s more, the new interface is more cinematic, with pop-up videos that one tends to find on Netflix.
The overhaul comes as some of Amazon’s bigger shows and deals are about to debut. That super pricey Lord of the Rings show bows later this month, while the company also forked out a fortune for the exclusive broadcast rights to Thursday Night Football. When those begin, subscribers won’t have to attempt to navigate an interface with a strong shrug emoji vibe. (It also comes at a time when one of their biggest competitors, Netflix, is still reeling from losing untold subscribers.) Something to think about the next time you want to watch Roger Moore in Octopussy.
(Via NYT)