Prime Video expands Chandru Lakshminarayanan’s role

UK: Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios have widened Chandru Lakshminarayanan’s mandate, handing the senior executive a cross-border role spanning business, strategy and international programming as the streaming wars intensify.

Lakshminarayanan steps into the role of head of business and strategy for the UK, Nordics and Benelux, alongside head of international programming, previously focused on APAC. The move signals Amazon’s appetite for tighter strategic control and sharper programming bets across markets.

Lakshminarayanan has been with Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios since 2023, most recently as head of programming strategy for EMEA. In that role, he helped shape content direction and commercial priorities across a diverse and fast-growing region.

Before Amazon, Lakshminarayanan built a career at the intersection of content and commerce. At BT and EE, he oversaw TV and sports businesses, handling content profit and loss, propositions and commercial performance across aggregated services featuring Sky, Netflix and public broadcasters. A prior stint at Sky saw him run propositions for Sky Cinema, Sky Sports and Sky Store, focusing on packaging, pricing and transactional video on demand.

Earlier chapters were rooted in content creation and youth brands. At Viacom’s MTV in India, Lakshminarayanan led programming and content profit and loss, steered music and unscripted shows, and executive-produced formats such as Coke Studio and MTV Unplugged. Roles at BBH, Disney and TAM rounded out a profile that blends data, marketing and creative instincts.

The promotion comes as global streamers juggle slowing subscriber growth, rising content costs and fiercer local competition. Amazon, with its mix of commerce and content, is betting that sharper strategy and bolder programming can keep viewers — and wallets — inside its ecosystem.

In streaming, scale is common and noise is cheap. The advantage goes to those who can turn strategy into hits. Amazon has placed its wager; now comes the box-office test.