The long in-the-works deal sheds insight into Amazon's video strategy. The company is after more viewers in the United Kingdom, one of its most important retail markets. Amazon also is aiming to build its lineup of sports shows and ultimately be a destination for streaming live sports, too. The world's largest online retailer sees original video as a way to attract new members to its Prime shopping club and to sell more products in turn. "Sports inherently breeds a lot of loyalty. That’s part of the crux of Prime: get people signed up," said Paul Verna, analyst at research firm eMarketer. "The English Premier League is extremely popular throughout Europe and more and more in the U.S. as well."A new @AmazonVideoUK series will go behind the scenes at #ManCity.https://t.co/TIpiIplm5l
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 9, 2017
Amazon live-streamed tennis for the first time this week at the inaugural Next Gen ATP finals in Milan, Italy. In September, it started streaming 'Thursday Night Football' games for the U.S. National Football League (NFL), and its show 'All or Nothing' has followed other sports teams behind the scenes. Sports shows will help Amazon reach a broader demographic and potentially sell more sports merchandise, too, said Alan Wolk, analyst for TV industry publication TV EV. Amazon and Facebook Inc could potentially enter the bidding when the next English Premier League rights deal is announced. Facebook failed with a $600 million bid for the streaming rights to the popular domestic Indian cricket league, IPL, in September.???
Manchester City have signed a deal worth more than £10m with Amazon Prime. Read all about it ? https://t.co/535h0x01yk #MCFC pic.twitter.com/w2MqmuTneF— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 9, 2017
Manchester City land groundbreaking £10million Amazon Prime deal https://t.co/rOk8cuIrAP pic.twitter.com/SAYgwPqaPY
— The Sun Football ⚽ (@TheSunFootball) November 9, 2017
