Video Central

This page provides an overview of what to expect as you onboard to deliver to Prime Video via our bulk delivery pipeline. This process is for Managed Contract Partners launching the following business lines via bulk-delivery methods:

Channels
SVOD Prime
TVOD
AVOD

Prime Video will enable you to launch VOD content following our delivery specifications, taking you through the following process:

Prime Video does does not refer exclusively to Video on Demand transactional type content as VOD. Instead, we refer to VOD content as Movies, TV Series/Episodic Content and Value-added material associated with the two latter content types. More granularly, Prime Video defines as:

Television/Episodic content
Prime Video uses the term television to identify content that is episodic in nature. Television content is organized by series, seasons, and episodes, as described in the following list.

Series: This is the television show itself (such as “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and is the top-level distinguishing characteristic. Series are composed of one or more seasons, each with one or more episodes. It’s possible to group similar, but significantly different, content under a different series (for example, “The Best of SNL”). If you have specific questions about the best way to group titles, contact your Operations Account Manager.
Season: These are collections of individual episodes within a particular series. This is a reflection of traditional broadcast season cycles. For shows that are non-episodic, collecting by broadcast year or production cycle (for example, “The Daily Show”) is recommended.
Episode: This is the individual title that customers see. Episodes are sequenced with other episodes in a season.

Movies
Prime Video uses the term movie to identify content that is standalone. “Movie” isn’t limited to titles with theatrical releases, specific runtimes, or a specific subject matter.

Value-added material (bonus content)
See the Value-added material (VAM) instructions.

If your PV Business Partner has set you up with a self-service Prime Video Direct account which enables title management via the Title Hub, please review material here.

Step 1: Scoping

As part of your onboarding, Prime Video will share out a technical questionnaire to the main business or Ops POC you’ve provided to your Prime Video contact. The main POC for your onboarding should fill out this form, as they will be receiving all initial correspondences around the onboarding process. The questionnaire requests information about your..

Launch catalog size
Intended business line
Content Types for launch catalog (Movies/TV Shows/VAM)
The technical specs of your content
Experience with delivering to OTT platforms such as Prime Video
Preferred Delivery Method (i.e. Will you be directly delivering to Prime Video yourself or utilizing a Preferred Fulfillment Vendor or Preferred Technology Vendor. )
- Utilizing a Preferred Fulfillment Vendor will decrease launch timelines and eliminates the need for education and content testing. For more information, please review the Preferred Fulfillment Vendor section.
  - If you choose to partner with a fulfilment vendor, you will skip steps 4 through 6 below.
- If you choose to directly deliver, your onboarding will include education and content delivery testing against our spec.
  - If you are delivering yourself, Prime Video will set up an Amazon S3 instance for you to use to transfer assets. If you are unable to onboard to Amazon S3, IBM Aspera is an alternative.
  - XML automation is a requirement for direct delivery.

Prime Video recommends reviewing this article and the delivery specifications article (also outlined within the Spec Education section below) before filling out the questionnaire as this is an opportunity to flag any concerns or questions.

Once you’ve filled out the questionnaire, Prime Video will be able to tailor your onboarding experience and will reach out for account set up.

Step 2: Delivery Method Confirmation

The preferred method to deliver to PV via an Amazon S3 instance. Onboarding to S3 includes:

AWS Identity and Account Management (IAM) roles that need access.
For example: arn:aws:iam:::role/this-is-a-test-role
AWS Region where your S3 bucket is hosted.

Your PV Onboarding contact will then share the S3 access point to reference for your deliveries. After you configure your policy, Prime Video will request you deliver a test file and confirm that you can see it sucessfully land in the “Deliveries” tab in Slate. Additional information about Amazon S3 integration can be found here.

If you are unable to set up an S3 bucket, we offer IBM Aspera as an alternative. Additional information about IBM Aspera integration can be found here.

Prime Video offers a suite of APIs to supplement your delivery experience. These APIs can be used to ingest content and pull various data around reporting, content status and deliveries. Even if you choose to utilise a Preferred Fulfilment Vendor for delivery, you can onboard to our suite of APIs for reporting. Additional information if you wish to onboard onto our APIs can be found here.

Step 3: Account Set-Up

As part of your onboarding, we will create a Prime Video Slate account. When it comes to managing your VOD catalog, Slate account will be enable you to:

See an overview of your catalogue.
Review if your titles are publish ready and troubleshoot failures.
Track deliveries.
Review performance reporting and analytics.

Additionally, your business contact may provide insight into additional feature sets that are available per your goals as you launch on Prime Video. Addition information around how to use Slate can be found in the Catalog Manager section here which will provide insights into how to use the following features:

Titles Tab shows a high level view of your catalog at the title level
Avails Tab shows if your title met our publishing requirements at the avail level
Assets Tab shows what assets are required for delivery (per contract/avail), current status of your assets, what actions you need to take and why?
Deliveries Tab shows you a history of your deliveries and allows you to add files

Prime Video will create a Slate account for you based on discussions with you business contact. To gain access to the account, you will need to provide an e-mail linked to your Amazon account and the corresponding user code. You can find additional info on how to provide your user code and add subsequent users here: User Access and Permissions.

Step 4: Spec Education

All content delivered to Prime Video must follow Delivery Specifications. This article covers the topics below:

Delivery overview: General information about content types, categories, localized languages, service level agreements, and packaging requirements.
Delivery methods: Onboarding details for bulk file delivery and single-title upload.
File naming rules: Rules to follow in file names.
Global packaging requirements: Overview of the title package elements.
Rights and avails: Links to information about EMA avails, content rights, content removal, renewing previously delivered content, and more.
MEC title metadata: Details about building MECs, a field attribute list, languages, localization, and genres, ratings, content descriptors, and sample templates.
MMC asset manifest: Details about building MMCs, afield attribute list, and sample templates.
Artwork: Specifications, requirements, delivery, and templates.
Videos: Main mezzanine video formatting, specifications, accepted formats, and promotional video delivery packaging.
Audio: Technical guidelines, channel mapping, descriptive audio, and file validation.
Timed text: Requirements, frame-rates, positioning and styling, time-code offset, character support, and localized language style guides.
Dub cards: Requirements and technical specifications.
Localization Quality and Responsible Use of AI: Guidance on localization quality expectations and requirements for the responsible use of AI.
Linear and live events: Requirements, quality standards, and a downloadable linear channel ingest guide.
Sample files

To deliver a movie to Prime Video, you will need to provide the elements below:

EMA avails
Exhibition rights for content are delivered via avails. Avails tell Prime Video systems in what territory, in what license type, and for what duration a title can be offered to customers. Avails also contain pricing and cost information. This is only required for TVOD, Channels, and SVOD CPH.
Title metadata — MEC File
Contains title, synopsis, runtime, genre, director, cast, and other key information about a title that customers rely on to make a viewing decision. Can be delivered in localized versions in addition to original language. Must be automatically generated, not manually created, and delivered according to Movielabs’ Media Entertainment Core (MEC) specs.
Playable assets
Assets served to the customer when they play the video. These include video, audio (original language, dubbed, and descriptive audio), and timed text files (subtitles, closed captioning, and/or forced narratives).
Global artwork
Title-specific artwork that appears on the title page and/or search. Artwork types include box art, cover art, and hero art.
Asset manifest—MMC File
Maps the deliverables referenced above and tells Prime Video systems where each file should go. Must be automatically generated, not manually created, and delivered under Movielabs’ Media Manifest Core (MMC) specs.

To deliver a TV Series to Prime Video, you will need to provide the elements for the content types called out in parenthesis. For example, MEC Metadata must be provided at a series, season, and episodic level while playable assets are only required at the episodic level.:

EMA avails for each offer type (Series, Season, Episodic)
Title metadata — MEC File (Series, Season, Episodic)
Playable assets (Episodic)
Global artwork (Season, Episodic)
Asset manifest—MMC File (Episodic)

Step 5: Test Round Deliveries

Prime Video will request test packages based on our spec and your delivery capabilities based on the Onboarding Questionnaire you’ve provided. For example, no test deliveries will be required for Value-Added Material (VAM) if you do not plan to deliver it.

An all-inclusive test package could consist of:

Movie package with associated trailer
Single TV series with associated
1. 2 seasons
2. 2 episodes per season
3. Bonus material within single season

All test packages must include all global packaging requirements. This includes:

EMA avails—required via Bulk File Delivery only
Exhibition rights for content are delivered via avails. Avails tell Prime Video systems in what territory, in what license type, and for what duration a title can be offered to customers. Avails also contain pricing and cost information. This is only required for TVOD, Channels, and SVOD CPH.
Title metadata—MEC File required via Bulk File Delivery only
Contains title, synopsis, runtime, genre, director, cast, and other key information about a title that customers rely on to make a viewing decision. Can be delivered in localized versions in addition to original language. Must be automatically generated, not manually created, and delivered according to Movielabs’ Media Entertainment Core (MEC) specs.
Playable assets
Assets served to the customer when they play the video. These include video, audio (original language, dubbed, and descriptive audio), and timed text files (subtitles, closed captioning, and/or forced narratives).
Global artwork
Title-specific artwork that appears on the title page and/or search. Artwork types include box art, cover art, and hero art.
Asset manifest—MMC File required via Bulk File Delivery only
Maps the deliverables referenced above and tells Prime Video systems where each file should go. Must be automatically generated, not manually created, and delivered under Movielabs’ Media Manifest Core (MMC) specs.

To read more about our global package requirements, see the article here.

You will receive feedback from your Prime Video Onboarding contact. To self-serve the status of your content, you can utilize the various tabs in Slate:

Titles Tab shows a high level view of your catalog at the title level
Avails Tab shows if your title met our publishing requirements at the avail level
Assets Tab shows what assets are required for delivery (per contract/avail), current status of your assets, what actions you need to take and why?
Deliveries Tab shows you a history of your deliveries and allows you to add files

Step 6: Launch Catalog Offer Ingestion

As part of your launch, you will need to provide a full launch catalog list in the EMA Avail spec. Additional information on the spec can be found here. A full launch catalog olist must be submitted before content ingestion can begin for Prime Video to properly track, review, and merchandise launch content.

Step 7: Content Ingestion

Once you’ve completed your content testing, you will begin ingesting your catalog. Through the launch process, a Prime Video POC will follow up and track to ensure that deliveries are completed on time and your catalog is ready for launch. This list can be provided ahead of or simultaneously as content testing.

Step 8: Steady State Management

Once you’ve launched successfully on Prime Video, you will be expected to adhere to the below SLAs:

Content Type	Avails	Asset Packages	Asset Redelivery
Library	30 days	14 days	48 hours
SWP	30 days	24 hours	Immediately
SDP	30 days	5 hours	Immediately
Pre-orders	7 days	7 days	48 hours

Additional information around Service Level Agreements can be found here.

General FAQ

If you have already launched on Prime Video and wish to utilize a new feature set or expand into a new market, you will not need to participate in the full process above. Please reach out to your Prime Video business or operations contact to facilitate which step you’ll need to plug into. For example, for new features Prime Video may request testing to ensure you can deliver to our specifications.

Launching VOD content on Prime Video