Managed Contract publishing is invite-only from the Prime Video Content Acquisition Management (CAM) team. Our CAM team solicits Managed Contract Partners whose libraries exhibit key selection criteria, including globally recognized titles and brands, catalog depth and breadth, and/or well-defined, established audiences.
If you haven’t been invited to be a Managed Contract Partner by our CAM team, see the Self-Publishing Contract Partners section of the Get started guide for onboarding instructions. If our CAM team is considering you as a Managed Contract Partner, they will connect with you through established industry channels or direct outreach.
After a deal is concluded with a CAM, you will be directed to Prime Video Slate to begin your delivery and publishing journey. New content providers are introduced to our Digital Integration Specialist (DIS) onboarding team. They will guide you through the technical delivery integration process based on your license type.
This article explains our primary onboarding types—SVOD Onboarding and TVOD/Channels Onboarding. Some of the setup processes are similar, with minor variations depending on your license type. Make sure that you review all setup requirements that are applicable to your specific business line. If your use case is different in any way, default to the guidance of your primary Amazon contact.
Prime Video SVOD onboarding
Contract signature: The onboarding process starts when a contract is signed. An electronic version of the executed agreement is shared with you via email.
Onboarding questionnaire: A Prime Video representative shares the partner onboarding questionnaire with you. We use this to confirm your specific onboarding needs and get primary contact information about your company. Complete this questionnaire in a timely manner, because it schedules the onboarding resources who begin configuring your account. To accelerate your onboarding and to optimize the quality of your publishing on our storefront, we encourage you to use an Amazon Preferred Media Fulfillment Vendor to deliver your titles. Provide the contact details for your Preferred Media Fulfillment Vendor in the questionnaire.
Onboarding support: A CAM Project Manager is assigned to initiate your onboarding to Prime Video. A Digital Integration Specialist (DIS) team member schedules the required technical delivery testing and workflow qualification process with your key technical representatives.
VOD title delivery: Our DIS team provides your “partner alias,” which you and/or your vendor requires to associate title packages with your account upon delivery to Prime Video. You and/or your vendor select a Unique title ID (sometimes defined as SKU or “Stock Keeping Unit”). The Unique title ID is required for delivery, and must be an alphanumeric string with no spaces. Underscore (_) and hyphen (-) are allowed, but no other special characters.
- Use of a fulfillment vendor: We encourage your use of a Preferred Fulfillment Vendor when delivering to Prime Video. They’re experienced in our delivery requirements, are required to maintain a minimum quality bar, and will fast-track your deliveries to our service. When using any vendor to deliver to our service, you must establish a vendor-supply workflow that conforms to Prime Video’s specifications and packaging requirements before making any deliveries. Please note: tracking statuses for vendor deliveries made on your behalf are currently only available in the vendor’s account. They will not be visible in your Slate delivery manager.
- Direct delivery: To qualify to deliver to Prime Video directly without the help of a fulfillment vendor, you are required to deliver multiple rounds of test packages, including mezzanine videos, dubbed audio, timed text, images, and metadata. Our delivery qualification is used to successfully connect you to our delivery pipeline, and to evaluate the technical quality of your catalog. Our DIS team works with you during this process to confirm that you meet our minimum delivery requirements. Prime Video uses the MovieLabs standard, which is an XML-based schema our systems require to ingest title (MEC) and asset manifest (MMC) metadata. We expect you to develop an automated export workflow from your Content Management System to ensure error-free deliveries.
Marketing assets delivery: In addition to assets required in each delivery package, you might be asked to provide supplemental material (images, trailers) for marketing use. Please follow the guidance provided by our team, as the delivery process for supplemental material is different than packaging requirements for main title publishing.
Bank & Tax setup: The payments representative that you designated in your onboarding questionnaire is contacted by a member of the Amazon payment team and receives an email invitation to register their Slate account. As a first-time user, this representative is required to complete a one-time setup of your company’s account profile, banking, and tax details. Failure to complete this step prohibits Prime Video from paying any royalties or relevant licensing fees. After your Slate account is active, each channel and/or territory in which you launch requires you to complete a separate Bank & Tax interview in Slate.
Payment: After your contract is signed and validated in our system, you can review and download a statement for your payment installment dates using Slate’s Reports tab. Prime Video SVOD uses an automated invoicing process, so you do not need to send invoices to us to process payment. Check the status of your payments any time via your Slate account: on the Invoices tab, click Paid invoices. This provides a summary view of all invoices for which payments have been issued.
Remittance advice: When payment is issued, a remittance advice is emailed to your designated payment representative and includes the following remittance data:
- Payee (the entity to whom the payment was issued)
- Payment date
- Amount paid
- Invoice number and description
Remittance details are also available in your Slate account: on the Invoices tab, click Remittances.
Contact us: For any questions about your account, please use the Contact us feature in Slate to reach the appropriate Prime Video contact for support.
Prime Video TVOD or Channels onboarding
Contract negotiation: Your onboarding process starts during contract negotiation, after high confidence is reached in closing your TVOD or Channels deal. At this stage, use the Slate support guide to learn about asset and packaging requirements you must meet to successfully launch titles on Prime Video. We expect your full proficiency with our delivery specifications, including content localization, ratings, and compliance requirements for each territory in which you are licensed to launch.
Onboarding questionnaire: Your CAM shares the content partner onboarding questionnaire with you. We use this to confirm your specific onboarding needs and get your primary contact information. Please complete this questionnaire in a timely manner, and answer all questions. To accelerate your onboarding and to optimize the quality of your publishing on our storefront, we encourage you to use an Amazon Preferred Media Fulfillment Vendor to deliver your titles. Provide the contact details for your Preferred Media Fulfillment Vendor in the questionnaire.
Onboarding support: A Partner Launch Manager (PLM) is assigned to guide you through the overall onboarding to Prime Video. A Digital Integration Specialist (DIS) team member schedules the required technical delivery testing and workflow qualification process with your key technical representatives.
Invitation to Slate: Our DIS team emails the primary technical/operational contact(s) you designated in the questionnaire, and provides them with credentials to access the Slate portal. Initial users will have administrative access to invite additional users from your organization to the Slate portal.
VOD title delivery: Our DIS team provides your “partner alias,” which you and/or your vendor requires to prepare the title package to deliver to Prime Video. You or your vendor select a Unique title ID (sometimes defined as SKU or “Stock Keeping Unit”). The Unique title ID is required for delivery, and must be an alphanumeric string with no spaces. Underscore (_) and hyphen (-) are allowed, but no other special characters.
- Use of a fulfillment vendor: We encourage your use of a Preferred Fulfillment Vendor when delivering to Prime Video. They’re experienced in our delivery requirements, are required to maintain a minimum quality bar, and will fast-track your deliveries to our service. When using any vendor to deliver to our service, you must establish a vendor-supply workflow that conforms to Prime Video’s specifications and packaging requirements before making any deliveries. Please note: tracking statuses for vendor deliveries made on your behalf are currently only available in the vendor’s account. They will not be visible in your Slate delivery manager. If you deliver avails directly without the assistance of your vendor, you will have delivery visibility for the avails file only. As part of the onboarding process, DIS works with your team so you can successfully deliver avails and maintain autonomous control of the distribution windows for your title(s).
- Direct delivery: To qualify to deliver to Prime Video directly without the help of a fulfillment vendor, you are required to deliver multiple rounds of test packages, including mezzanine videos, dubbed audio, timed text, images, metadata, and avails. Our delivery qualification is used to successfully connect you to our delivery pipeline, and to evaluate the technical quality of your catalog. Our DIS team works with you during this process to confirm that you meet our minimum delivery requirements. Prime Video uses the MovieLabs standard, which is an XML-based schema our systems require to ingest title (MEC) and asset manifest (MMC) metadata. We expect you to develop an automated export workflow from your Content Management System to ensure error-free deliveries.
Linear feeds or events (Channels partners only): See the dedicated Linear section in the support pages.
Catalog delivery: After you successfully complete technical onboarding, you are directed to deliver the titles that are applicable to your Prime Video launch.
Bank & Tax setup: The payments representative that you designated in your onboarding questionnaire is contacted by a member of the Amazon payment team and receives an email invitation to register their Slate account. As a first-time user, this representative is required to complete a one-time setup of your company’s account profile, banking, and tax details. Failure to complete this step prohibits Prime Video from paying any royalties or relevant licensing fees. After your Slate account is active, each channel and/or territory in which you launch requires you to complete a separate Bank & Tax interview in Slate.
Launch: Your catalog is available for transactions and/or subscriptions at the agreed upon launch date.
Steady state: After launch, you’re expected to refresh your catalog regularly by delivering new titles as per our Service Level Agreement (SLA).
Reporting and payments: Review the details of your transactions and/or subscriptions (such as performance, earnings, and payments) in Slate’s Reports page.
Contact us: For any questions about your account, please use the Contact us feature in Slate to reach the appropriate Prime Video contact for support.
