Amazon acquires some assets of OTT platform MX Player

Amazon on Monday said it acquired certain assets of India-based OTT platform MX Player to spruce up its streaming offerings.

The acquisition, including the MX Player app, will give users access to a combined library of shows in regional languages, international content, and other premium content across genres, Amazon said in a statement.

Amazon will merge its free ad-supported video-on-demand services with MX Player into one service, Amazon MX Player.

“Today, we are bringing together the vast reach of MX Player, with the advertising tech that leverages Amazon’s billions of customer signals,” said Girish Prabhu, Head of Amazon Advertising India. 

“It’s about enabling all brands, not just the ones selling on Amazon, to reach and deliver relevant advertising to a very large and engaged base across India. It’s about directly measuring outcomes from the very top of the funnel to the very bottom,” he added.

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Access to the combined library will be available through Amazon’s apps on mobile, Amazon.in, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Connected TVs, the company said.

“Amazon and MX Player obsess over customer experience and are both believers in the future of free entertainment,” said Karan Bedi, Head of Amazon MX Player. 

According to the companies, over 250 million unique users accessed the combined content library in September.

“We will offer high-quality entertainment and streaming experiences faster than we could have done independently while continuing to keep the service free. This merger will mean great things for our viewers, advertisers, and content partners, and will let us bring MX Player to even more people in India,” Bedi added.

The acquisition follows the US-based company’s comments during its second-quarter results on advertising remaining an important contributor to its profitability in North America and international segments.

Brian T. Olsavsky, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Amazon, had said the company continues to see opportunities to further expand its offerings in new areas driving growth like Prime Video ads.