Pay-for-Performance
This article covers requirements to deliver content under the Prime Video Pay-for-Performance royalty program.
Under Pay-for-Performance royalty terms, content partners may make their titles available in either of the following:
- Prime (SVOD) and be paid based on customer engagement on a Cost Per Hour (CPH) royalty model.
- Ad supported (AVOD) and be paid based on advertising revenue share (revshare) royalty model.
Prime Video doesn’t pay any minimum or up-front fees for content availed under CPH or revshare terms. Content providers choose which titles they want to avail under the CPH royalty model, and should engage with their Amazon point of contact to discuss titles that can be availed under revshare royalty model.
Note: You must provide localized audio or captions for each published territory. For example, if you’re publishing to Spain under Pay-for-Performance terms, you must provide Spanish audio or Spanish captions.
Access Pay-for-Performance terms
Content partners can participate in the Prime Video Pay-for-Performance royalty program at the discretion of the Prime Video business team. To request participation, contact your Prime Video Content Acquisition Manager.
When your account is enabled, you're prompted to review and accept Pay-for-Performance terms, which are linked from the banner that appears in the Video Central portal. Contractual terms detail how you earn royalties on your titles. You're required to provide bank, payment, and tax details through the Video Central portal to enable royalty payments for titles availed under Pay-for-Performance.
After accepting contractual terms and providing payment details, you may begin making your content available under Pay-for-Performance terms using industry-standard EMA Avails. Prime Video rejects CPH and/or revshare avails if you haven’t accepted Pay-for-Performance terms through your Video Central account.
Submit Pay-for-Performance avails
To make titles available under CPH terms, you must submit EMA Avails with the following CPH SVOD fields and inputs:
CPH SVOD
To make titles available under CPH terms, you must submit EMA Avails with the following CPH SVOD fields and inputs:
EMA Avails (v1.6): Required inputs for SVOD CPH
EMA Avail (v1.6) field |
Required input |
LicenseType |
SVOD |
LicenseRightsDescription (for EMA v1.6) |
Prime |
ContractID |
CPH |
EMA Avails (v1.7.3): Required inputs for SVOD CPH
EMA Avail (v1.7.3) field |
Required input |
LicenseType |
SVOD |
GroupIdentity (for EMA v1.7.3) |
Prime |
ContractID |
CPH |
Revshare AVOD
To make titles available under Revshare terms, you must submit EMA Avails with the following Revshare AVOD fields and inputs:
EMA Avails (v1.6): Required inputs for Revshare AVOD
EMA Avail (v1.6) field |
Required input |
LicenseType |
SVOD |
LicenseRightsDescription (for EMA v1.6) |
freewithads |
ContractID |
revshare |
EMA Avails (v1.7.3): Required inputs for SVOD CPH
EMA Avail (v1.7.3) field |
Required input |
LicenseType |
SVOD |
GroupIdentity (for EMA v1.7.3) |
freewithads |
ContractID |
revshare |
Complete your avail sheet with all other necessary inputs per Amazon requirements, including the territory or territories into which you want to make content available. Learn more about Prime Video requirements for delivering EMA avails.
Note: AVOD is only available in select territories.
To ensure that new rights windows are captured by Prime Video operational workflows, deliver your avails in accordance with standard avail delivery SLAs, with a forward-looking date and timestamp in the Start field. Only submit avails for territories supported by your Pay-for-Performance (CPH or Revshare) agreement with Amazon — we won’t accept avail scopes for territories outside this agreement. Some territories, like India, require an additional agreement with Prime Video to avail your titles under Pay-for-Performance terms. Contact your Prime Video Content Acquisition Manager for more information on the territories into which you are permitted to make your titles available under Pay-for-Performance terms.
Pay-for-Performance avails must not conflict with any existing Licensed SVOD/AVOD deal you have with Amazon. If you want to extend the availability window of your Licensed SVOD/AVOD titles under CPH/Revshare terms upon the expiration of the Licensed window, you must ensure that the CPH/Revshare Start and End date inputs specified in your delivered avail sheet don’t conflict with the windows of your Licensed titles. For a licensed SVOD/AVOD deal to maintain a continuous offer window, the End date and timestamp of the licensed SVOD/AVOD titles must be one minute before the CPH/reshare AVOD Start timestamp. If you’re uncertain about precise window dates of existing licensed titles, contact your Prime Video Partner Operations Manager.
If your Pay-for-Performance avails are rejected (e.g., conflict with a licensed deal or are for a territory you’re not permitted to avail into for Pay-for-Performance), then you will receive instant feedback in the Deliveries tab within the Video Central portal.
Below are sample files for use in creating EMA avails specifically for CPH SVOD. For more details, see the Content Rights section.
CPH SVOD
EMA Avails v1.7.3 CPH SVOD sample file
EMA Avails v1.6 CPH SVOD sample file
Revshare AVOD
EMA Avails v1.7.3 Revshare AVOD sample file
EMA Avails v1.6 Revshare AVOD sample file
Note: Avails 1.6 doesn't support Same Week Production (SWP) and Same Day Production (SDP) Pay-for-Performance content. If you plan to deliver SWP or SDP titles and stream them as Pay-for-Performance, please use Avails 1.7.3 and input either SWP or SDP in the LicenseRightsDescription field. Review LicenseRightsDescription on the TV Data Dictionary tab in the avails sample file for the usage of this field, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for more details on these content types.
Content fulfillment for Pay-for-Performance titles
After successfully delivering Pay-for-Performance avails, title fulfillment requirements populate on the Requests tab within the Video Central portal. For titles previously delivered to Prime Video through a different business line (e.g., TVOD, Licensed SVOD, Prime Channels), you likely have no additional delivery requirements following successful avail delivery. For net new titles to the service, or if you delivered avails for a territory that has an additional localization requirement, the Requests tab displays all new requirements. Filter Business Line to Prime/AVOD and Status to both Open and Required to identify new delivery obligations for your CPH/Revshare titles.
Note: You must provide localized audio or captions for each published territory. For example, if you’re publishing to Spain under Pay-for-Performance terms, you must provide Spanish audio or Spanish captions.
Reporting
After titles are available in Pay-for-Performance, you have visibility into titles’ performance through downloadable reports, available on the Reports tab within the Video Central portal. Performance reports — published daily, weekly, and monthly — include total minutes streamed per title and per territory. Access your earnings and related payments for those titles through a monthly earnings report, which includes royalties on per-title, per-territory basis, and a monthly payments report, which tracks each payment made to you for Pay-for-Performance earnings.
Royalty terms
For any title made available under Pay-for-Performance terms, you’re compensated based on performance of the titles.
CPH SVOD
For CPH SVOD, compensation is based on a per-hour royalty rate. CPH SVOD royalties are paid according to the rate card outlined in the CPH Digital License Agreement accepted through Video Central. Unless otherwise stated in your CPH agreement, royalties for titles published in the United States are paid in accordance with the
Customer Engagement Ranking associated with each title streamed.
The Customer Engagement Ranking is a percentile ranking of a title’s level of engagement with our Prime customers in relation to other titles published into SVOD under CPH terms in a territory. Royalty rates for titles published in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria are paid based on aggregate hours streamed in each territory based on the rate table available in your CPH Digital License Agreement. Titles published in all other territories earn a fixed royalty rate per hour set forth in your CPH Digital License Agreement. Title streaming time begins accruing when the title is streamed for the first time by a customer.
CPH Earnings Report
View a breakdown of royalties per territory and offer type. This report can be exported at the monthly level and displays duration streamed in hours.
CPH Payments Report
View payments per sales period and marketplace. We issue payments approximately 90 days after the end of the month in which the revenue event occurred.
CPH Performance Metrics Report
Track minutes and unique streams for one or all of your titles.
Exporting reports
Payment is based on earnings, and earnings are based on Performance Metrics. Make sure to align the payment report with the corresponding earnings report and invoices.
Note: You might notice a difference between the streaming minutes shown in the Performance Metrics section of your Dashboard and the streaming hours shown in the Earnings section. After converting minutes to hours or vice versa, differences between these two figures might be caused by the following reasons:
- When customers watch your video offline (for example, by downloading it to a Kindle Fire device), that device will not report the streaming activity until it reconnects to the Internet.
In the Performance Metrics section, this streaming activity will be attributed to the same day the customer streamed your video.
In the Earnings section, this streaming activity is accounted for in the month in which it is actually reported by the device. This ensures we pay you for all streaming activity, even if the streaming activity is reported after the month in which it occurred has ended.
- You might have reached a payment cap under your SVOD CPH License Agreement with Amazon. These caps are reflected in the Earnings section of your Dashboard. Please refer to the SVOD CPH License Agreement for details.
- Streaming minutes are reported in the Performance Metrics section within five business days of the streaming event. However, if the streaming event is at the end of the month (i.e. January 31), the streams might be shown in the following month's Earnings report.
Note: We issue payments approximately 90 days after the end of the month in which the revenue event occurred.
Revshare AVOD
For Revshare AVOD, compensation is based on the share of the advertising revenue earned from the ads played on the content. Unless otherwise stated in your agreement, royalties for titles published are paid in accordance with the percentage share of the earned advertising revenue for each title.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Which titles can I avail under CPH?
You may avail any title so long as it doesn't have a conflicting Prime (SVOD) licensed deal in place in the same offer type and territory. For example, you may not avail a title into SVOD CPH if you already have a licensed SVOD deal for that title in the same territory at the same time. You may also only avail into territories that Prime Video has enabled you to make your titles available into under CPH terms. Contact your Prime Video Content Acquisition Manager (CAM) for specific questions about territory options, and your Partner Operations Manager (POM) for questions about availability windows of existing SVOD catalog titles.
Which titles can I avail under Revshare?
Contact your Content Acquisition Manager (CAM) for the titles that can be availed under AVOD Revshare terms. Your titles should not conflict with licensed deals on the same offer type and territory. For example, you may not avail a title into AVOD Revshare if you already have a licensed AVOD deal for that title in the same territory at the same time. You may also only avail into territories are enabled for you to make your titles available into under Revshare terms, or where AVOD exists. Contact your CAM for specific questions about territory options, and your Partner Operations Manager (POM) for questions about availability windows of existing AVOD catalog titles.
How do I make titles available in Pay-for-Performance?
We require delivery of EMA avails v1.6 or v1.7.3 to identify titles you want to make available under performance-based Pay-for-Performance terms.
For SVOD, indicate SVOD in the LicenseType field, CPH in the ContractID field, and Prime in the LicenseRightsDescription field in EMA v1.6 and GroupIdentity in EMA v1.7.3.
For AVOD, indicate SVOD in the LicenseType field, revshare in the ContractID field, and freewithads in the LicenseRightsDescription field in EMA v1.6 and GroupIdentity in EMA v1.7.3.
We have introduced new checks on the Deliveries tab for Pay-for-Performance avails to ensure the correct fields are indicated and that your rights don't conflict with existing licensed deals.
What avail spec should I use to deliver Pay-for-Performance avails?
We support EMA versions v1.6 and v1.7.3 for Pay-for-Performance. If you choose to deliver EMA 1.6, you won’t be able to communicate other inputs in the LicenseRightsDescription field (e.g., Next Day TV), as we require this field to indicate the Prime/freewithads subscription type.
In EMA v1.7.3, use the field GroupIdentity to convey the subscription type, and you can use LicenseRightsDescription for another purpose. EMA v1.7.3 also introduces the capability to indicate Download status (i.e. whether a customer is permitted to download a CPH/Revshare title) and precise language asset holdbacks.
If you want to migrate to EMA v1.7.3, contact your Prime Video Partner Operations Manager to be onboarded to these new requirements. If you deliver EMA v1.7.2 today, note that the required Pay-for-Performance fields aren’t in this version.
What assets do I need to deliver to make my titles available in Pay-for-Performance?
For new titles, provide all required files (e.g., title and asset metadata, video, artwork, localization requirements) through existing content delivery processes. Track title fulfillment on the Requests tab within the Video Central portal. For existing titles, you might have additional localization requirements to make content available in new marketplaces. These requirements are shown in Video Central. In many situations, you will have no additional delivery requirements beyond avail delivery.
Note: You must provide localized audio or captions for each published territory. For example, if you’re publishing to Spain under Pay-for-Performance terms, you must provide Spanish audio or Spanish captions.
How do I get support?
Contact your Prime Video Partner Operations Manager (POM) for all questions related to file delivery, content fulfillment, and title availability. Contact your Prime Video Content Acquisition Manager (CAM) for all questions related to your licensing agreement, royalty terms, payments, and performance and earnings reports.
Can my titles and assets be repurposed from Prime Video Direct (PVD) to my managed account?
For any title published through PVD that is only available in SVOD (Prime) or AVOD (ad supported) in some cases we may be able to migrate that title from your PVD account to your managed account in Video Central (VC). Contact your Content Acquisition Manager (CAM) and Prime Video Account Representative to learn if you're eligible for title migration from PVD to VC.
Can I move my own titles from my Prime Video Direct (PVD) to managed Video Central (VC) account?
Contact your Prime Video Partner Operations Manager to identify Pay-for-Performance titles to migrate from the Prime Video Direct (PVD) portal to your managed account in Video Central. If your title was already live on Prime Video as part of a managed deal (e.g., for TVOD) and you redelivered those title assets via PVD to access Pay-for-Performance, then the title's assets (video, audio, metadata, etc.) already exist in your managed account. If that is the case, then you can easily take down the SVOD/AVOD availability from the title published through PVD and re-add SVOD CPH/AVOD Revshare availability to the managed title using an EMA Avail. This allows managing that title through a single experience (e.g., in bulk via Video Central) and have it available to customers on a single title detail page.
If you have only ever delivered a title through PVD and you want to manage it in bulk through your managed VC account then you must redeliver those assets in line with Prime Video asset delivery requirements (see FAQ What are Prime Video asset delivery requirements for Pay-for-Performance?).
When you’re onboarded to access Pay-for-Performance terms via Video Central and titles have been migrated from PVD, you can no longer publish into SVOD/AVOD via the PVD portal. You may still make titles available under other offer types (e.g., TVOD) via PVD.
Which territories can I publish into?
Work with your Content Acquisition Manager (CAM) to determine territories you will be able to publish into under Prime (SVOD) CPH terms or Ad-supported (AVOD) Revshare terms. Currently, Prime Video is unable to allow bulk publishing of titles to certain Special Compliance Territories for SVOD CPH, including India, Singapore, Turkey, the UAE, and the Middle East. If you require the ability to publish titles into these territories, please discuss with your CAM. AVOD is currently available in select territories only.
Will I have to provide new bank, payment, and tax details?
This information must be provided through your Video Central account — even if you have already provided it in your PVD account or for another managed deal (e.g., for a TVOD contract). Because you have a unique contract for Pay-for-Performance, often with distinct terms (e.g., net 90 payment terms) from your other managed deals, we must associate payment details to your Pay-for-Performance contract so that we can automatically pay you for your Pay-for-Performance earnings under the appropriate terms.
What is the difference between Prime Video Direct (PVD) and Pay-for-Performance (SVOD CPH/AVOD Revshare)?
PVD represents two things:
- A user interface (UI) for managing your catalog of titles that you delivered and published through the PVD UI
- Contractual terms that you accepted for SVOD (Prime), AVOD, and TVOD titles when you created your PVD account
Pay-for-Performance are royalty models, specifically SVOD CPH and AVOD revenue share, for monetizing your content in SVOD/AVOD that is available through PVD or through your managed Video Central (VC) account with Prime Video. Make your titles available in SVOD under CPH terms or AVOD under revenue share terms by either delivering assets and publishing title-by-title through the PVD UI, or by accepting an Pay-for-Performance contracts associated with your managed account (through VC) and then delivering an EMA Avail to specify CPH/Revshare availability for your titles and delivering title assets in bulk.