Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Amazon orders second season of buzzy original 'Transparent'
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After its first stab at original series fell short of the splash Netflix made with efforts like "House of Cards," Amazon's "Transparent" is getting early Emmy chatter.
After debuting last month, Amazon's "Transparent" has been mentioned by critics as an Emmy contender. Beth Dubber/Amazon
Amazon said Thursday it will renew its original series "Transparent" for a second season to premier next year, after the comedy quickly hit a degree of buzz that the e-commerce giant's first shows didn't drum up.
Amazon has been chasing Netflix's originals strategy for its Prime Instant Video service -- a component of its $99 Prime program best known for free second-day shipping -- to stay competitive. Where Netflix series like "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black" snagged top nominations and quickly became standard watercooler fooder, Amazon's first originals "Alpha House" and "Betas" failed to get similar attention.
Amazon said "Transparent" is the top ranked series on Prime Instant Video, its streaming-video service that competes with Netflix. It also touted its scores on critic-review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, with 98 percent and 91 percent positive ratings, respectively.
The company didn't discuss viewing metrics for the program, other than to say that it's the No. 1 ranked series on Prime Instant Video, referring to customer ratings, and that nearly 80 percent of all viewers "binge" on two or more episodes of the series in the same day.
Joan E. Solsman Joan E. Solsman is a senior writer for CNET focused on digital media. She previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere in New York City and has been doored only once. See full bio Pepsi launches naturally sweetened soda, but only on Amazon
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Pepsi is embracing stevia-leaf extract with a new soda called True, but you won't find it at your local grocery store. Curious beverage fans will have to buy it on Amazon.
Pepsi hopes Amazon customers will become True fans. Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET
Perhaps it all started with Surge. The iconic '90s sugar-bomb soda from Coca-Cola is enjoying a revival by being offered on Amazon, where it keeps selling out. Now rival Pepsi is hopping onto the e-commerce soft-drink train by introducing a new product, Pepsi True, with an exclusive launch through the online retailer.
True is one of Pepsi's shots at appealing to calorie and corn-syrup-conscious consumers. It's partially sweetened with stevia, a leaf extract. While the green cans and proclamation of "no artificial sweeteners" are meant to attract soda fans on a health kick, the ingredients still show sugar right behind carbonated water near the top of the list.
Pepsi isn't hiding the sugar content, but it is emphasizing that True has 30 percent fewer calories than regular Pepsi. A 7.5-ounce can has 60 calories. It will be sold in packs of 24 of these mini-cans and will be available on Amazon in mid-October, though pricing hasn't been given yet. Like Surge, it will likely be available for free shipping through Amazon Prime.
The sugar and stevia combination is a bit of a mixed message, but Pepsi is taking very little risk by launching the product on Amazon only. It doesn't have to foot the bill for wide distribution to physical stores across the country or a traditional advertising campaign. A YouTube video introducing the soda shows stevia leaves and bouncy people wearing flannel and backpacks in the wilderness. If the soda catches on, Pepsi always has the option to move it into bricks-and-mortar retail stores.
The Amazon product page is already up, so that means reviewers are chiming in before the soda even becomes available. Some are already complaining about the presence of sugar in the mix instead of just Stevia, while others are taking negative reviewers to task for giving feedback on a product they haven't tasted.
It will be interesting to see if the eventual reviews of True reach the amusing heights of those for Surge. It will be hard for Pepsi to top a happy customer declaring "The Steve Perry of soda is back" in joy at Surge's resurrection.
Amanda Kooser Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET's Crave blog. When not wallowing in weird gadgets and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto. See full bio Amazon, Disney close to mending strained relationship -- report
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Some Disney DVD releases are back on Amazon after they were removed from the e-commerce site in August.
Amazon and Disney could be on the verge of patching things up, according to a new report.
Some of Disney's upcoming DVD releases, including "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Maleficent," and "The Hundred-Foot Journey," have found their way back to Amazon's e-marketplace last week. The change suggests that the companies' stand-off could be inching to a close, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people who have knowledge of the situation.
Amazon stopped offering preorders on some Disney DVDs in August in a contract dispute with the entertainment giant. Digital versions of the same films for Amazon Instant Video were, however, available on the service.
The dispute is still officially ongoing, the Journal's sources say, but the return of those Disney DVDs to Amazon indicates that tensions are starting to subside.
Neither Amazon nor Disney immediately responded to a request for comment.
The Disney kerfuffle is reminiscent of a spat Amazon had with Warner Home Video earlier this year. For a period of time, some of Warner's films, including "The Lego Movie," vanished from the site. While Amazon never spoke publicly on the matter, it was believed at the time that the company removed the films to boost its margins on each sale.
A similar situation continues to play out with book publisher Hatchette, which has seen its title sales restricted after the companies could not agree on terms. Amazon wants Hatchette to maintain its e-book pricing at $10, while the publisher argues it has the right to assign any price it wants on the books. Hatchette argues that Amazon's move is designed solely to steal profit and market share from competitors.
For its part, Amazon has made clear that it has no intention of backing down against its vendors, saying earlier this year that it won't quit in attempting to keep prices down.
Don Reisinger Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications. See full bio