原文標(biāo)題：
The shopping channel
Amazon has Hollywood’s worst shows but its best business model
It aims to make video pay by applying the techniques of e-commerce
購物頻道

亞馬遜的電影質(zhì)量最差，但它的商業(yè)模式卻稱霸好萊塢
旨在運(yùn)用電子商務(wù)技術(shù)推出視頻購物

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AS BULLETS FLY around a high-speed train carrying a former Miss World and a gang of spies through the Italian Alps, shopping is surely the last thing on viewers’ minds.

在一列疾駛在意大利阿爾卑斯山的列車上，一名前世界小姐和一群間諜在各自執(zhí)行任務(wù)，看到子彈橫飛的場(chǎng)面，觀眾們肯定不會(huì)想到購物這件事。

Yet should they press pause, they will see an option to buy items from the show: the heroine’s gold necklace, her red dress, or the teetering stilettos in which she is improbably running rings around the villains. Only her exploding perfume is not yet for sale.

然而，如果他們按下暫停鍵，他們會(huì)看到一個(gè)劇中物品的購物選項(xiàng)：女主角的金項(xiàng)鏈、她的紅色裙子，或者她的高跟鞋--她穿著高跟鞋圍著反派們跑來跑去。只有她的爆炸香水尚未出售。

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“Citadel”, a thriller on Amazon Prime Video, shows what happens when the world’s biggest online retailer becomes one of its biggest entertainment producers.

《堡壘》是亞馬遜 Prime Video 上的一部驚悚片，從中可以看出全球最大的電商公司進(jìn)軍娛樂制造業(yè)會(huì)發(fā)生什么化學(xué)反應(yīng)。

As well as buying merchandise from the show on Amazon’s e-commerce site, audiences can listen to its soundtrack on Amazon Music, or read about its production on Amazon’s sister site, IMDb.com.

觀眾不僅可以在亞馬遜的電商平臺(tái)上購買該劇的商品，還可以在亞馬遜音樂網(wǎng)站上收聽劇中音樂，或在亞馬遜的姊妹網(wǎng)站 IMDb.com 上了解該劇的制作花絮。

Its multinational cast and plot, and planned spin-offs in a variety of languages, have been carefully chosen to appeal to shoppers around the world.
為了吸引世界各地的購物者，該劇精心挑選了多國演員陣容且設(shè)計(jì)了精彩劇情，并計(jì)劃推出多種語言的衍生劇。

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Hollywood old hands are snooty about Amazon’s video efforts, and understandably so.

好萊塢的老手們對(duì)亞馬遜的視頻業(yè)務(wù)持傲慢態(tài)度，這是可以理解的。

Despite a reported budget of $300m, making it the second-priciest TV series in history (after “The Rings of Power”, another Amazon project), “Citadel” received lukewarm reviews and failed to crack the top ten most-streamed shows in America (Amazon says it has done better internationally).

雖然報(bào)道稱其預(yù)算為3億美元，使其成為歷史上第二昂貴的電視劇（僅次于亞馬遜的另一部劇《指環(huán)王：力量之戒》），但《城堡》的評(píng)價(jià)不溫不火，未能躋身美國流媒體影視劇前十名（亞馬遜聲稱在國際市場(chǎng)上表現(xiàn)更好）。

Critics see it as emblematic of the company’s high-spending, low-impact record in video.

批評(píng)者認(rèn)為這部劇代表了亞馬遜在影視領(lǐng)域是“有錢沒品味”的形象。

This year Amazon will blow $12bn on streaming content, second only to Netflix (see chart).It has had some hits, including “Reacher” and “The Boys”.

今年，亞馬遜將在流媒體內(nèi)容上投入 120 億美元，僅次于網(wǎng)飛公司（見圖表）。亞馬遜也曾推出過一些熱門影片，包括《俠探杰克》和《黑袍糾察隊(duì)》。

But its 45 streaming nominations at the upcoming Emmy awards—a record for Amazon—is less than half as many as Netflix or Warner-Discovery’s service, Max.

但在即將舉行的艾美獎(jiǎng)?lì)C獎(jiǎng)典禮上，亞馬遜獲得的 45 項(xiàng)流媒體提名--創(chuàng)下了亞馬遜的紀(jì)錄--但還不到網(wǎng)飛或華納探索公司的 Max 服務(wù)的一半。

“Amazon’s hit rate is not good, nor consistent with its spend,” admits one former executive.

一位前高管坦言：“亞馬遜影視劇成功率不高，投入產(chǎn)出比也不高?！?br>

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Yet despite its creative misfires, Amazon is quietly assembling something that has eluded most of its rivals: a model for how to make streaming pay.

然而，盡管亞馬遜創(chuàng)意不足，但它正在悄然組建一個(gè)大多數(shù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手無法企及的模式：一種如何讓流媒體付費(fèi)的模式。

Its shows may underwhelm, but it is preparing to pair them with its formidable advertising machine, and is turning its streaming app into a high-margin marketplace for third-party sales, along the lines of its all-conquering e-commerce site.

亞馬遜的影視劇可能不盡如人意，但它正準(zhǔn)備將這些影視劇與它強(qiáng)大的廣告機(jī)器結(jié)合起來，并將其流媒體應(yīng)用轉(zhuǎn)變成一個(gè)高利潤的第三方銷售市場(chǎng)，就像它所向披靡的電商平臺(tái)一樣。

Hollywood might sometimes snigger at the quality of Amazon’s output. But the Seattle firm may yet have the last laugh.
好萊塢有時(shí)可能會(huì)對(duì)亞馬遜影視作品的質(zhì)量嗤之以鼻。但這家西雅圖公司可能會(huì)笑到最后。

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Revenue streaming

流媒體收入

Amazon has been in the video business since 2006, when it launched Unbox, an iTunes-like downloading platform.

自2006年推出類似iTunes的下載平臺(tái)Unbox以來，亞馬遜一直涉足視頻業(yè)務(wù)。

Since then the company has deployed its tech-sized chequebook to become one of the biggest forces in Tinseltown.

從那時(shí)起，該公司利用其龐大的財(cái)務(wù)能力成為好萊塢最重要的力量之一。

Its main streaming service, Prime Video ($8.99 a month, or free as part of Amazon’s broader Prime membership), attracts some 156m monthly viewers worldwide—about as many as Disney+ and second only to Netflix.
其主要流媒體服務(wù) Prime Video（每月 8.99 美元，亞馬遜的 Prime 會(huì)員免費(fèi)）吸引了全球約1.56億個(gè)月度觀看者--數(shù)量與 Disney+ 相當(dāng)，僅次于網(wǎng)飛公司。

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Fire TV, Amazon’s range of internet-connected TV sets and streaming sticks, outsells every brand bar Samsung, with nearly 100m devices in use worldwide, according to TechInsights, a data firm.

根據(jù)數(shù)據(jù)公司 TechInsights 的數(shù)據(jù)，F(xiàn)ire TV是亞馬遜的聯(lián)網(wǎng)電視系列和流媒體設(shè)備，全球使用數(shù)量達(dá)到近1億臺(tái)，僅次于三星，成為除三星之外銷量最高的品牌。

Heavy discounting has been deployed to lure people into the Fire ecosystem: earlier this year Amazon offered a 43-inch Fire television for $99.
為了吸引用戶進(jìn)入 Fire 生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，亞馬遜采用了大幅折扣的策略：今年早些時(shí)候，亞馬遜以 99 美元的價(jià)格推出了 43 英寸 Fire 電視。

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The most obvious motive for Amazon’s video experiments is to increase the value of the Prime bundle, which keeps members coming back to shop on the e-commerce site.

亞馬遜試水視頻業(yè)務(wù)的最明顯動(dòng)機(jī)是增加Prime會(huì)員套餐的價(jià)值，吸引會(huì)員不斷回歸電商網(wǎng)站進(jìn)行購物。

But video also has the potential to become a moneyspinner in its own right, in two ways.
但亞馬遜視頻本身也有可能成為一種賺錢的方式，在2個(gè)方面有潛力。

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First, advertising. In little more than a decade Amazon has created a digital-ads business that has disrupted the old duopoly of Google and Meta.

首先是廣告。亞馬遜在短短十多年內(nèi)創(chuàng)建了數(shù)字廣告業(yè)務(wù)，打破了谷歌和 Meta 過去的雙頭壟斷局面。

Its ad revenue this year will be around $45bn, making up about 7.5% of worldwide digital advertising, estimates Insider Intelligence, a research company.

據(jù)研究公司 Insider Intelligence 估計(jì)，亞馬遜今年的廣告收入將達(dá)到 450 億美元左右，約占全球數(shù)字廣告營收的 7.5%。

It is already more than a third the size of Meta’s ad business, and growing fast.

亞馬遜的廣告業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模已超過 Meta 的1/3，且還在快速增長。

But whereas Google and Meta both have healthy video-advertising operations (through YouTube and Reels, respectively), Amazon’s inventory mainly consists of sponsored search results on its e-commerce site.
但谷歌和 Meta 都擁有健康的視頻廣告業(yè)務(wù)（分別通過 YouTube 和 Reels），而亞馬遜的視頻內(nèi)容主要由其電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站上的贊助搜索結(jié)果組成。

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That seems to be changing. Amazon has kept Prime Video largely ad-free to preserve a “premium” feel, says one senior executive.

情況似乎正在發(fā)生變化。一位高管說，亞馬遜的 Prime Video 基本上是無廣告模式，以保持 "高級(jí) "的感覺。

But the introduction of commercials last year by Netflix and Disney+ has given a green light to others to do the same.

但去年網(wǎng)飛和Disney+引入廣告后，讓其他公司有效仿的機(jī)會(huì)。

Amazon has been experimenting with running ads alongside sports shows on Prime, and has shifted more of its back-catalogue to Freevee, its ad-supported streamer.

亞馬遜一直在 Prime 上的體育節(jié)目旁邊試驗(yàn)投放廣告，并將更多的舊節(jié)目轉(zhuǎn)移到了其廣告支持的流媒體平臺(tái)Freevee上。

Analysts expect to see more commercial breaks on Prime soon.
分析師預(yù)計(jì)Prime很快將會(huì)有更多的商業(yè)廣告。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量811/1705左右）
原文出自：2023年9月2日《The Economist》Business版塊

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
亞馬遜的 Prime Video 是亞馬遜公司的流媒體視頻服務(wù)，它是亞馬遜 Prime 會(huì)員計(jì)劃的一部分，Prime 會(huì)員在付費(fèi)訂閱后可以無限制地觀看 Prime Video 的內(nèi)容。Prime Video 提供了大量的電影、電視劇、紀(jì)錄片、原創(chuàng)節(jié)目和體育活動(dòng)的流媒體內(nèi)容。用戶可以通過亞馬遜的設(shè)備，如亞馬遜 Fire TV、Fire平板電腦以及各種支持該應(yīng)用程序的智能電視、手機(jī)和平板電腦上觀看這些內(nèi)容。Prime Video 的內(nèi)容非常豐富多樣，包括來自全球各個(gè)角落的電影和電視節(jié)目。此外，亞馬遜還投入大量資源制作并發(fā)行原創(chuàng)節(jié)目，如《城堡》，《指環(huán)王：力量之戒》，《俠探杰克》和《黑袍糾察隊(duì)》。

Tinseltown浮華城是“好萊塢”的綽號(hào)，它源于電影工業(yè)的興起和熒幕上的光芒。Tinseltown一詞意味著金光閃閃的夸張和虛榮，也暗示了電影行業(yè)中奢華和炫耀的形象。Tinseltown一詞代表了這個(gè)地區(qū)巨大的影響力和在電影產(chǎn)業(yè)中的重要地位。Tinseltown這個(gè)詞也可以用于描述電影行業(yè)的虛幻性質(zhì)，表達(dá)一種對(duì)電影制作和明星生活的浪漫化和戲劇性的態(tài)度。它強(qiáng)調(diào)了電影業(yè)的光鮮亮麗和閃耀性質(zhì)，有時(shí)也暗示著這個(gè)行業(yè)的虛假和劣跡。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
Critics see it as emblematic of the company’s high-spending, low-impact record in video.
批評(píng)者認(rèn)為這部劇代表了亞馬遜在影視領(lǐng)域是“有錢沒品味”的形象。

Hollywood might sometimes snigger at the quality of Amazon’s output. But the Seattle firm may yet have the last laugh.?
好萊塢有時(shí)可能會(huì)對(duì)亞馬遜影視作品的質(zhì)量嗤之以鼻。但這家西雅圖公司可能會(huì)笑到最后。

But video also has the potential to become a moneyspinner in its own right, in two ways.?
但亞馬遜視頻本身也有可能成為一種賺錢的方式，在2個(gè)方面有潛力。