By Travis Johnson
Online shopping giant Amazon have quietly soft-launched their Amazon Prime premium service in Australia overnight.
It’s certainly no coincidence that the launch has occurred just in time for the premiere of The Grand Tour, the new Amazon series starring ousted Top Gear talent Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Subscribers will also get access to series such as the critically acclaimed Phillip K. Dick adaptation, The Man in the High Castle, the reboot of the cult superhero comedy, The Tick, and more, plus an impressive film range.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this affects the tightly contested Australian streaming marketplace – Netflix and Stan are still the dominant players, of course with Presto recently announcing its closure. It’s a safe bet that Amazon’s strong brand and global reach will see it carve out a fair whack of territory for itself, but Australians have already shown a reticence to shackle themselves to more than one service – will the Amazon name recognition give it the edge it needs?
In any case, the curious can sign on for a free 30 day trial right now, or push all their chips in and sign on for a discounted year today only, for $79.
