Rumor Mill: DC Comics Planning Digital Subscription With Amazon Prime

[rui no onna]

Just saw this on Bleeding Cool. Would be really awesome if it comes to pass.

DC Comics Planning Digital Subscription With Amazon Prime – And Everything Changes

One survey completer tells Bleeding Cool “Since I’m in the US, all questions, pricing, etc. were based on setups here in the US, in terms of media providers, etc. so I don’t know what the service would look like globally, though they indicated a partnership with Amazon Prime, offering a discount if one upgraded an existing Prime account with their service.”

The questions indicated that DC is testing the waters on features to include, price points, levels of exclusivity with other platforms, etc. Features noted were existing DC-based TV shows and movies, original short-form and long-form content and digital comic access, discounts on merchandise, subscription-box service discounts, and behind-the-scenes content.

One source recalled “a question which asked what I would consider a “small” number of issues and an “extensive” number of issues to include in such a database.”

Price points mentioned in the survey ranged from $5.99 to $12.99 a month.

[Lee Stone]

Just saw this on Bleeding Cool. Would be really awesome if it comes to pass.

DC Comics Planning Digital Subscription With Amazon Prime – And Everything Changes

I'll be okay with it if it doesn't use 'exclusives', removing comics from Comixology to do so.

I was wanting to watch the Emma Peel Avengers episodes on Hulu, but found they were gone.
So, I figured I'd go to Amazon and buy a few episodes, but they weren't available because they were in the ComiCon Prime upgrade package.

[lameco]

I hope this is true and doesn't take too long making its way to amazon uk.

[rui no onna]

I'll be okay with it if it doesn't use 'exclusives', removing comics from Comixology to do so.

I was wanting to watch the Emma Peel Avengers episodes on Hulu, but found they were gone.
So, I figured I'd go to Amazon and buy a few episodes, but they weren't available because they were in the ComiCon Prime upgrade package.

I expect your issue with Emma Peel Avengers is ComiCon was able to secure exclusive digital distribution rights.

Doubt it'll happen with comics given DC gets paid per comic purchased via comiXology and the subscription would very much be a lower cost option.

That said, comics borrowed via Kindle Unlimited seem to only be available via Kindle platform. Really hoping they extend it over to comiXology because the Kindle app kinda sucks for comics.

[Frontier]

So...DC Unlimited?

[MindofShadow]

So...DC Unlimited?

That would be awesome, and needed... and would get me reading more DC for sure.

But why not do it all themselves ala Marvel instead of partnering off and losing some of the profits?




Oh lawd, first offering cheaper digital comics vs LCS, now this...

[MindofShadow]

I'll be okay with it if it doesn't use 'exclusives', removing comics from Comixology to do so.

.

Doesnt amazon own them too?

[JasonTodd428]

So...DC Unlimited?

That would be great if it's true. I'd love to have a DC Unlimited options out there.

[byrd156]

So...DC Unlimited?

If so I'll have to renew my Amazon account.

[Tony]

I'm hoping to get a cheap subscription option for titles, Netflix style DC Unlimited is a close second, I just hope it doesn't take too long I'd like to see this in the next few months and I don't understand why they are so far behind Marvel. Digital is pretty obviously where we are headed from movie watching to comic reading Ipad's and tablets in general changed how millions get there media.

I cut the cord on paper comics a long time ago due to being too expensive, inconvenient to pick up, and them taking up too much room. I know many will always want a physical book in their hands and that's cool. I just tire of Digital being held back for emotional reasons from tptb. It would be like TV networks and movie studios not doing streaming services because they only want to sell dvd's.

[Digifiend]

Doesnt amazon own them too?

Yes they do.

Off topic, but don't you hate it that every instance of the word amazon on this forum gets converted to a link to amazon.co.uk? When you're usually more likely to be talking about Wonder Woman when the word comes up?

[stephens2177]

The day that DC has 1 place for all its comics,movies,TV shows,merchandise,and anything else,is the day I drop any amount of $ to get it.this is a must have

[Tony]

That would be awesome, and needed... and would get me reading more DC for sure.

But why not do it all themselves ala Marvel instead of partnering off and losing some of the profits?

I was thinking about this. Maybe they feel partnering with Amazon will give them more money from the extra exposure and advertising Amazon will do for them on the website.

[rui no onna]

But why not do it all themselves ala Marvel instead of partnering off and losing some of the profits?

Going it alone involves large upfront costs and overhead. WB/DC will probably be losing money until they gain enough subscribers to cover their overhead. Also, development will take longer and there's bound to be lots of teething problems.

By partnering with Amazon, it's pretty much instant profit and implementation should be quite easy and likely will be handled by Amazon. Probably the most time consuming process would be contract negotiations.

DC would also have potentially wider reach due to the built-in audience of Amazon Prime/Kindle customers. By last count, I think Prime has 50-60 million subscribers and market statistics indicate that once people subscribe, they keep it for life. Mind, I've had my Prime subscription since 2005/06, I believe.

Marvel built their Marvel Unlimited platform for the long term but they also need to expend extra effort to advertise it and the first year or so, it was probably operating at a loss (and being subsidized by print sales) until they got enough subscribers.

[MindofShadow]

This seems like a bad couple monthsfor comic shops.

between bitching about Marvel's sales, to marvel yanking digital codes to books (making it a "pick one" decision), to dc offering cheaper titles in digital, and now this news...

yikes. its hard out there for a shop