Amazon Prime Video restructures in Europe & slashes original efforts in Africa

Gangs Of Lagos (Source: Prime Video)

Amazon Prime Video is slashing spending in Africa and the Middle East as part of an international restructuring that will see its European operations split in two.

The reorganisation in Europe will see the creation of two distinct divisions, reporting into Barry Furlong, VP of Prime Video in EMEA.

Execs in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will make up a unit known as EU Established, which will be overseen by Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, country manager for France.

EU Emerging will house the Benelux, Nordics and CEE businesses, with Ritchie Ordonez leading that division. Ordonez was previously director of Benelux, CEE and Turkey.

A director of EU content & programme strategy is to be appointed, who will work across Amazon MGM Studios output. Similar positions will be created within Prime Video’s APAC and Lat Am teams.

Furlong said he had “decided to make some adjustments to our operating model to rebalance and pivot our resources to focus on the areas that drive the highest impact and long-term success.”

He added that he hoped the move would “improve the operational running of our multi-territory business and allow us to be more agile and focused.”

Prime Video’s cuts in Africa

The changes, first reported by Deadline, will also see original commissions coming to an end across MENA and sub-Saharan Africa, although shows on the slate such as Ebuka Runs Up Africa will be produced.

MENA operations will now report into Prime Video’s APAC leadership, led by Gaurav Gandhi.

The new strategy marks an abrupt u-turn for the streamer, which last year hired execs in both Nigeria and South Africa to expand local programming.

Redundancies across the region are expected but the streamer will remain available to customers across the regions, albeit with less local content on offer.

Prime Video had been behind African originals including crime thriller feature Gangs Of Lagos and the streamer partnered with Trevor Noah to launch its first South African original, with a remake of hit format LOL: Last One Laughing to be produced by BBC Studios-owned Rapid Blue.

Prime Video has made a flurry of cuts recently and earlier this week unveiled plans to cuts staff and investment in Asia.

The redundancies come as part of the global cuts announced by Amazon last week, which will see “several hundred” jobs eliminated across MGM Studios and Prime Video.