Amazon has released its first original show that's free for anyone to watch — with ads (AMZN)
Eric Thayer / REUTERS
Amazon has released its first original show that is both free for everyone to watch and ad-supported.
The show is called “The Fashion Fund,” and follows fashion designers as they compete for a $400,000 prize, judged by the likes of Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Diane von Furstenberg. Though only one episode (of the third season) is currently available on Amazon, the company confirmed to Business Insider that all 10 episodes of the season will be released outside Amazon's Prime paywall.
This marks a change for Amazon, which had previously followed the Netflix model of keeping all its original video series behind a paywall and free of any ads.
A spokesperson for Amazon described the move as an experiment with ads. “For this Fashion Fund project, we found it to be a very effective way to fund its production. The show has strong interest from advertisers.”
But Amazon isn't planning to go all-in on ad-supported video programming anytime soon. The company says that Prime Video will remain ad-free. Amazon did not comment on any expansion of Amazon’s ad-free offerings.
“The Fashion Fund” is produced by Conde Nast Entertainment, as is “The New Yorker Presents,” the iconic magazine’s new experiment in TV, also available on Amazon (though only on Prime).
Here is what the show looks like on Amazon:
Eric Thayer / REUTERS
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