Top Publishers Are Making Content For Amazon’s New Video-Enabled Home Assistant

Two days ago, Amazon officially launched the Echo Show — the latest iteration of its family of smart home devices, which features a seven-inch touchscreen that enables consumers to watch YouTube videos, consult security cameras, make hands-free video calls, and more. (Amazon’s original Echo device, a smart speaker with voice-controlled personal assistant features, bowed in 2014).

Now, it turns out that top video publishers including Scripps Networks Interactive and Time Inc. are beginning to create video content exclusively for the Echo Show, which is priced at a cool $229.99. Scripps’ Food Network brand and Time’s People magazine both launched apps for the Echo Show on Wednesday, AdAge reports, with the Food Network streaming cooking demos directly to the device and People creating a celebrity flash news briefing hosted by staffer Jeremy Parsons.

Regina Buckley, SVP of digital operations and business development at Time, told AdAge that, down the line, People programming for the Echo Show could also include branded content.

Other publishers that are currently creating content for the Echo Show include CNN, CNBC, Techcrunch, and Bloomberg, according to Digiday. Each of the aforementioned media companies already created content for the screen-less versions of the Echo in the form of audio flash briefings. CNN’s video flash briefings will now be hosted New Day anchors Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota, while NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will launch a daily monologue recap on the device.

Google and Apple both offer competing gadgets in the home-assistant space — the Google Home and HomePod, respectively — though Amazon was first to market with the Echo, which currently boasts a 70% market share, according to eMarketer. It is also the only maker thus far to offer a device with a screen.