Step Aside, Netflix: Amazon’s Entering the Original Series Race

The original series field just got more crowded thanks to Amazon, an Internet colossus used to doing things differently -- and successfully.

On the surface, Amazon’s foray into originals looks similar to the path blazed by Netflix. Both companies want to buttress their licensed-library content with TV-caliber originals that are available nowhere else. But that’s where the comparison ends. Though Hollywood tends to frown on those that try to shake its traditions, Amazon is intent on playing by its own rules. The company made that clear enough by releasing a number of pilots on Amazon.com for broad public viewing in order to gather data on user engagement, which helped decide which projects to greenlight. Amazon’s prospects for breaking into Hollywood might be more easily dismissed were it not for the fact the company has been monstrously successful at expanding into new market segments.