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 The vast programming options now available for viewers
gives them so many choices to watch TV that it’s hard to keep up with
everything. Most streaming platforms keep the budgets for their shows and the
ratings they draw a secret. Netflix is the exception and had no issue talking
about the budgets of The Crown or The Get Down when the budgets became public.
Amazon doesn’t do that but a new report from Reuters revealed that 26 million
people watch their programming and their original shows have brought in five
million new Prime subscribers as of early last year. The first seasons of the
car-themed talk show The Grand Tour, the Philip K. Dick adaptation of The Man in
the High Castle and the L.A. detective noir drama Bosch brought in a great deal
of those viewers. The first season of High Castle drew in eight million viewers
in the U.S. by the beginning of 2017 and added 1.15 million new Prime
subscribers worldwide. The show cost Amazon $72 million to produce and market
that first season. Season two ended up costing $107 million to make but drew the
same ratings as season one. The budget for season one of Bosch was $47 million
and $53 million for season two. The budget for season two of Mozart in the
Jungle was $37 million. The budget for Goliath was $82 million for its first
season. Transparent did get a lot of rewards but season one only drew four
million viewers and season three only drew 1.3 million viewers. As Amazon looked
at their numbers a decision was made to develop more mainstream projects and
less niche ones. (Credit Dark Horizons and Reuters |
