原文標題：
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

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

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Among streamers, Amazon is uniquely well placed in the advertising game.

在流媒體公司中，亞馬遜在廣告領域處于獨特地位。

Whereas Netflix acknowledges that it is mainly limited to generic “brand” advertising, Amazon has enough information on its customers, through its e-commerce site and its Fresh grocery stores, to target them with highly personalised ads.

相對于網(wǎng)飛受限于品牌形象廣告，亞馬遜通過其電子商務網(wǎng)站和Fresh雜貨店，擁有客戶足夠多的信息，可以精準投放個性化廣告。

What’s more, it can measure the effectiveness of those ads, by observing viewers’ subsequent behaviour in its shops.
更重要的是，通過觀察視頻瀏覽者在商店的后續(xù)行為，亞馬遜能夠衡量這些廣告的有效性。

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It has yet to exploit this ability fully, but viewers will get a taste of it later this month when Amazon is expected to run targeted, measured ads alongside its “Thursday Night Football” programme.

盡管亞馬遜尚未充分發(fā)揮這種能力，但觀眾將在本月底體驗到，屆時亞馬遜預計將在其《周四橄欖球之夜》節(jié)目中投放定向、可衡量的廣告。

In November it will show a blizzard of video commercials when it airs the first American-football game to coincide with Black Friday, an annual holiday to honour the shopping gods.
今年 11 月，亞馬遜將在 "黑色星期五 "這個一年一度向購物之神致敬的節(jié)日播出第一場美國足球比賽，屆時將大量播放視頻廣告。

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That makes this a “foundational year” for Amazon’s video-ad business, says Andrew Lipsman of Insider Intelligence. “The future of their advertising strategy on video is going to really take hold,” he predicts.

研究公司Insider Intelligence 的安德魯·利普斯曼說，這使得今年成為亞馬遜視頻廣告業(yè)務的“奠基之年”。他預測說：“他們的視頻廣告戰(zhàn)略將在未來大放異彩。”

Morgan Stanley, a bank, forecasts that within two years Amazon’s nascent video-ad business will be worth more than $5bn a year in America alone, and that in the long run its superior intel on its viewers could allow it to charge higher rates for its ads than any other video platform.
摩根士丹利銀行預測，兩年之內，亞馬遜的新興視頻廣告業(yè)務僅在美國的市場價值就將超過50億美元，從長遠來看，亞馬遜對視頻用戶的卓越洞察力可能使其能夠比其他任何視頻平臺收取更高的廣告費。

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Such an ability will become more valuable as viewing shifts to streaming.

隨著人們的觀看方式轉向流媒體，這種能力將變得更有價值。

TV ads are reckoned to be among the most effective, but their impact is hard to measure.

電視廣告被認為是最有效的廣告之一，但其效果難以衡量。

As advertisers gain the ability to see how customers respond to their commercials, the TV advertising market, which is currently worth about $90bn a year in America, stands to grow, with the lion’s share of new business going to the companies that offer the best measurement.
隨著廣告商能夠了解客戶對其廣告的反應，目前美國每年價值約 900 億美元的電視廣告市場將不斷擴大，其中絕大部分新業(yè)務將流向提供最佳衡量廣告效果的公司。

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Television’s new landlord

電視的新房東

Amazon’s second approach to making video pay is to sell viewers not just its own output but other companies’ content, too.

亞馬遜用視頻賺錢的第二種方法是不僅銷售自家節(jié)目，還向觀眾出售其他公司的創(chuàng)作內容。

Whereas viewers opening the Netflix or Disney+ app see only shows on those platforms, those opening Prime Video are offered content from a range of other streamers.

與在網(wǎng)飛或 Disney+ 應用上只能看到這些平臺上的節(jié)目不同，用戶打開Prime Video時可以看到來自其他流媒體平臺的內容。

If a customer subscribes to one of those other services via Prime, or buys or rents a show, Amazon takes a cut, reckoned to be between 20% and 50%.

如果用戶通過Prime訂閱了一個服務，或者購買或租借一個節(jié)目，亞馬遜將收取20%至50%的傭金。

And when a viewer watches a free channel via Prime, Amazon takes a slice of the advertising revenue or sells its own ads in some of the channel’s slots.
當觀眾通過 Prime 觀看免費頻道時，亞馬遜將會獲得一部分廣告收入，或在該頻道的某些時段播放自家廣告。

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Tom Harrington of Enders Analysis, a research firm, likens the approach to Amazon’s tried-and-tested strategy in retail.

湯姆·哈靈頓是安德斯分析公司的研究員，他將這種方法比作亞馬遜久經考驗行之有效的零售戰(zhàn)略。

The company began by selling its own products, before opening its marketplace to other traders.

亞馬遜開始只賣自己的產品，后來才將市場開放給其他交易商。

These days two-thirds of sales on Amazon.com are made by third parties, with Amazon taking a commission—a much higher-margin business than selling its own wares.

如今，亞馬遜銷售額的2/3來自第三方，它向商戶收取傭金——這是一項比銷售自家商品利潤率高得多的業(yè)務。

Its aim is to be the same kind of “l(fā)andlord” in video, believes Mr Harrington.
哈靈頓認為，亞馬遜的目標是成為視頻領域的“地主”。

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This analysis sheds light on the purpose of big-budget shows like “Citadel”.

這一分析揭示了《堡壘》等大制作節(jié)目的真正目的。

Amazon continues to stock its e-commerce site with first-party products, to maintain price competition and ensure that the marketplace has a broad enough offering to keep customers returning.

亞馬遜繼續(xù)向其電子商務網(wǎng)站提供自營產品，以維持價格競爭，并確保市場有足夠廣泛的品類供應，以保持顧客的回頭率。

Prime Video content plays a similar role: high-profile shows and live sports—something not available from most other streamers—get people to open the app, while guaranteeing them a wide range of content to choose from.

Prime Video 內容發(fā)揮著類似的作用：知名影視節(jié)目和體育比賽直播--這是大多數(shù)其他流媒體平臺無法提供的內容--吸引用戶打開應用程序，同時保證他們有廣泛的內容可供選擇。

“The real question isn’t how many people watched ‘Rings of Power’,” says Mr Harrington. “It’s how many people went into Prime because of ‘Rings of Power’...and then [spent] more on other content.”
哈林頓說：“重要的不是有多少人觀看了《指環(huán)王》，而是有多少人因為《指環(huán)王》而打開Prime…然后在其他內容上[花]更多錢?！?br>

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Amazon seems to be succeeding in getting people to spend time on its platform.

亞馬遜似乎成功地吸引了人們的注意力時間。

Although relatively few of its shows break into the top ten individually, Nielsen’s figures show that Prime Video’s share of streaming in America—about 8.9% of hours watched in July—is about 70% greater than that of Disney+, and more than twice that of Max.
雖然進入前十的影視節(jié)目相對較少，但尼爾森的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，Prime Video 在美國的流媒體份額——在7月觀看的小時數(shù)約占8.9％--比 Disney+ 高出約 70%，是Max服務的兩倍多。

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Becoming a content landlord is not easy.

成為內容領域的地主并非易事。

Amazon’s bargaining power over suppliers is weaker in video, where there are a few big studios with their own direct-to-consumer offerings, than in e-commerce, where millions of tiny sellers use its marketplace.

在視頻領域，亞馬遜在供應商方面的議價能力較弱，因為幾家大型制片公司有自己的面向消費者的直銷渠道，而在電子商務領域，數(shù)百萬小賣家使用其電商平臺使亞馬遜的議價能力更強大。

Amazon’s hold over consumers is weaker, too: whereas the company accounts for nearly 40% of e-commerce sales in America, its Fire TV platform handles only about 15% of streaming traffic there.
亞馬遜對消費者的控制力也較弱：雖然它占美國電子商務銷售額的近 40%，但其Fire TV平臺在流媒體流量中只占15％左右。

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Still, the company is carving out ways of making money in an industry that is drowning in losses.

盡管如此，亞馬遜正在開辟一個在虧損嚴重的行業(yè)中賺錢的方式。

Amazon may not dominate the Emmy awards, or Nielsen’s top ten. But, says a former executive, its chief aims in video are for people to watch TV through its hardware, to buy content through its store and to watch commercials served by Amazon advertising.

亞馬遜可能無法在艾美獎或尼爾森獎前十名中占據(jù)主導地位。但是，一位前高管表示，亞馬遜視頻業(yè)務的主要目標是讓人們用它的硬件看電視、用它的商店買影視劇、以及看它投放的商業(yè)廣告。

Even if “Citadel” remains a critical flop, it may have done its job.
盡管《堡壘》在評論方面不成功，但它已經達到了它的目的。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量880/1705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: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡）
品牌形象廣告generic brand advertising是一種廣告策略。在廣告領域，"generic"指的是針對品牌整體形象而不是特定產品或服務進行的廣告。這種廣告的目的是增強品牌認知度、塑造品牌形象和加強品牌關聯(lián)性，而不是直接促進銷售或推廣特定產品。這種廣告通常特點是通過創(chuàng)意手法、情感表達或故事敘述來吸引觀眾，并與品牌的核心價值觀和個性進行連接。它不涉及具體的產品特點或功能，而是更多著重于品牌的理念、文化、聲譽等方面。

黑色星期五Black Friday 是指每年11月的第四個星期五，它被視為傳統(tǒng)的美國購物季節(jié)的開始。在這一天，零售商會提供大量的折扣和促銷活動，吸引消費者前來購物。這個節(jié)日的起源可以追溯到20世紀40年代的美國，當時它被用來形容交通擁堵和人流量龐大的情景，因為許多人利用這一天休假，進城購物。而現(xiàn)在，這個節(jié)日已經擴展到全球范圍，許多國家都會舉辦類似的促銷活動。Black Friday 的名字可能有幾種解釋。一種解釋是，這一天代表了零售商從虧損（紅字）轉向盈利（黑字）的階段，因為他們能夠以折扣價出售商品，同時吸引更多的消費者。另一種解釋是，這個名稱是由于交通擁堵和人流量增加而得來的，可以形容這一天商店周邊的一片黑壓壓的人群。

【重點句子】（3個）
Among streamers, Amazon is uniquely well placed in the advertising game.
在流媒體公司中，亞馬遜在廣告領域處于獨特地位。

Amazon’s second approach to making video pay is to sell viewers not just its own output but other companies’ content, too.
亞馬遜用視頻賺錢的第二種方法是不僅銷售自家節(jié)目，還向觀眾出售其他公司的創(chuàng)作內容。

Prime Video content plays a similar role: high-profile shows and live sports—something not available from most other streamers—get people to open the app, while guaranteeing them a wide range of content to choose from.
Prime Video 內容發(fā)揮著類似的作用：知名影視節(jié)目和體育比賽直播--這是大多數(shù)其他流媒體平臺無法提供的內容--吸引用戶打開應用程序，同時保證他們有廣泛的內容可供選擇。