Luxe Listings Sydney: How Amazon is investing $150m in its Australian Originals

by James Manning

Posted on 9 July 2021

Prime Video confirms it is actively seeking more Australian live sport

This week Mediaweek has been profiling the creatives behind the Amazon Prime Video Australian Original Luxe Listings Sydney. From today the series goes global in over 200 countries with Amazon Prime customers able to watch the series about Sydney prestige property wheeling and dealing.

The Amazon Prime service has over 200m customers, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos noting earlier this year that around 175m of them had streamed some of the video content. While we don’t know just how much content those customers watched, we do know the company is investing and working hard at expanding its slate of Australian productions.

The arrival of Luxe Listings Australia takes it into a new ballpark – property docu-reality programming.

Mediaweek spoke to two Amazon Prime Video team members this week about the series and its Australian plans.

CJ Yu

CJ Yu, head of unscripted development, global formats at Amazon Studios, told Mediaweek:

“Luxe Listings Sydney was a unique opportunity for us to showcase Sydney in a way never before seen on TV. When we are looking at unscripted reality programming, we are always trying to find a show that resonates with local audiences. This is one that really puts Sydney in the spotlight.

“We really believe we have something that will feel unique and special for our customers worldwide. But we also want to make sure we super-serve the local customer.”

On the origins of the idea, Yu said: “Our partners at Kentel found the cast and they brought them to us. It was important for us to make sure that for any show like this, we had the top real estate agents in Sydney. We wanted to make sure we had the best of the best.

“We then set out with our partner Kentel and our production partner Eureka to craft what ultimately became Luxe Listings Sydney.”

International appeal is something the streamer is sure the series has.

“Docu-reality series are definitely having a resurgence worldwide,” said Yu. “In recent years you have seen Real Housewives take off in different cities around the world. There are real estate shows Million Dollar Listing New York and LA and Selling Sunset.

“These types of shows are offering something unique for customers because they show a world that most people aren’t a part of.”

Tyler Bern

Tyler Bern, head of content, Prime Video Australia, New Zealand, added: “We are commissioning for a local audience, but within that some shows will travel more than others. Luxe Listings Sydney is definitely going to travel. We know our Australian customers and our customers all around the world are going to love it. It’s that good.”

When asked about creating a new Luxe Listings franchise, Yu explained: “We can’t speak to our development slate, but when we find success in one market it’s likely we will try and replicate that success in places around the world.”

As to the show’s glossy production values, Yu said: “When you look at docu-reality series you typically have two paths. You’ve got some shows that take a tried-and-true method that we have all seen. Versions of reality shows you often see on cable. The other is the elevated style which you see more of on streaming services.

“For us the visual look of the show was extremely important because it makes a bold statement. When you watch these shows it is easy to think b-roll [accompanying footage intercut with the main shot in an interview or documentary] might be an afterthought. For us capturing the city as a character in the show was extremely important.

“We spent days on days shooting specific b-roll shots to make sure that the lifestyle was captured to make the viewer feel like they were living it. It’s easy to shoot a couple of shots here and there of Sydney Harbour. It is really hard to make Sydney not look good. Our crews really pushed the limits of how good we could make Sydney look. The visual aesthetic really brings the city to life as a fourth character so to speak.”

When it comes to measuring the success of Luxe Listings Sydney, Bern said: “We want this to be a buzzy, fun show that our customers are talking about and sharing with friends and family. This is an exciting week for us and launch day is a big moment and we will be looking for engagement by our customers.”

Amazon Prime Video showcase host Joel Creasy with Luxe Listings Sydney stars and Prime Video’s Tyler Bern

Program genres

Bern: “There is no formula we are trying to follow. We let our development slate guide what we greenlight. We are trying to create a broad variety of shows to engage the most amount of customers. Guilty pleasure reality fans may not be fans of sports programming like [AFL series] Making a Mark. Those fans in turn might not be fans of something like Clarkson’s Farm. We want to make sure we are programming our service with a wide range of content to make it the most attractive for Australian customers.

“This [real estate] genre, we will find out once we launch. We are incredibly happy with this show and it is a genre we are interested in exploring. This is a fun show we think our customers are going to love…and we hope to make more.”

When asked about the growth of streaming service options for customers, Bern said they don’t think too much about competitors. “We are really focused on making great shows and trying to service our customers.

“We just want to focus on Luxe Listings, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Deadloch, Class of 07. As our recent program event showed we have a lot to do with a lot of exciting projects.”

The Amazon Prime Video schedule for its Australian Originals has plenty to offer for the remainder of 2021. Luxe Listing Australia is out now, Nine Perfect Strangers is released in August, followed by the much-anticipated Back to the Rafters in September.

“We have been unscripted heavy in Australia so far, but we are making a big move into scripted. Also live sports. We just had the Australian Swimming Trials and we are looking for more live sport opportunities.”

Bern confirmed: “Any live sport opportunity that comes to market we will look at. The swimming was our first live sporting event in Australia and it was important for us to find an event and a partner that would be appreciated by our customers. We had a lot of success with it and we are excited to launch more swimming events over the next couple of years.”

The swimming was also on offer to millions of Prime customers around the world. Bern wouldn’t be drawn on just how many watched, but he did reveal there were some parts of the world that did show a big interest in Australian swimming.

There is no specific timeline attached to the Australian Original road map, but Bern said they are looking forward for “years and years to adapt and evolve our content strategy so we can have a best in class streaming service”.