- Amazon Prime Video will not charge Ligue 1 Pass subscribers for the period from June 4 to August 3 inclusive
- This corresponds to the cessation of competition and it is an appreciable commercial gesture for customers.
- Amazon, which is losing a lot of money with Ligue 1, will have to decide if it tries to acquire the broadcasting rights for the coming years
This is great news for Amazon Prime Video Ligue 1 Pass subscribers. The streaming platform has just announced that it will not charge its customers during the summer, a period when no matches are broadcast. One could consider that it is a common sense measure, but nothing forced the Tech giant to proceed in this way.
In a press release, the service explained as follows: “On the occasion of the summer off-season, we are delighted to announce that as a monthly subscriber to the Ligue 1 pass, you will not be charged for your payment deadlines between June 4, 2023 (inclusive) and August 3, 2023 (included). Your monthly payment will be automatically reactivated starting August 4, 2023”.
Will Amazon remain a Ligue 1 broadcaster?
As our colleagues rightly point out d’Europe 1, Prime Video had already done the same on the occasion of the World Cup in Qatar last November and December, when Ligue 1 was interrupted. Remember also that the streaming service will offer the night sessions of the Roland-Garros tournament which starts very soon, often with beautiful posters at the key.
Either way, Amazon will soon be faced with a choice as the Ligue 1 TV rights tender is set to start next fall. The platform indeed loses a lot of money with the French championship.
According to information from the NPA firm, which we echoed a few days ago, the turnover of the offer did not exceed 170 million euros per season, i.e. a net loss of 130 million every year.
Worse, the Ligue 1 Pass has not made it possible to massively recruit subscribers and retain them for Amazon Prime Video. The experts noted as follows: “While subscribers to the first represented almost a quarter of customers of the second at the end of 2021, the percentage has gradually fallen below 20%, and does not represent more today than when the plan was launched”.
However, we know that Amazon is trying to restore its image in France. In this context, broadcasting the national football championship and making commercial gestures towards subscribers is a very wise strategy.
