Amazon’s spend on TV and film in UK passes £1bn as Netflix cuts back

theguardian.com:

Amazon has invested more than £1bn on TV, movie and live sport content in the UK in recent years and plans to increase spending to make it a must-have streaming service for cash-strapped households.

It is the first time that Amazon has revealed the level of investment in Prime Video in the UK, spanning the period since 2018, as competition for viewers intensifies amid a mounting cost of living crisis.

While Amazon’s annual UK budget lags that of the $1bn (£810m) spent by Netflix on hits from Bridgerton to Sex Education, it continues to rapidly grow – with big releases in the pipeline such as the Lord of the Rings series – while its rival is in the process of cutting budgets and staff after reporting its first fall in subscribers in a decade.

“Our investments are ramping year over year, said Chris Bird, managing director of Prime Video UK, ahead of the unveiling of a major slate of new programming at an event in central London on Thursday. “Over the last five years we have crossed the £1bn mark, that feels like a milestone to recognise our growth here. We are fully committed to our future in the UK, as we are across Europe and the world.”

Amazon has doubled down on its commitment to the UK signing a record-breaking long lease deal for its first permanent studio space in the UK at Shepperton Studios, where Netflix also has a deal, and making the surprise decision to move shooting of the mega-budget Lord of the Rings TV series from New Zealand to the UK.

New Zealand’s minister for economic development and tourism, Stuart Nash, said that the first series in the saga, called The Rings of Power, which will premiere later this year, cost about NZ$650m (£332m) to make.

Bird acknowledged that the streaming market is not immune to the