Amazon Launches Alexa Freemium Model

Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa’s Jeopardy! skill has been monetized, thanks to a subscription service Amazon rolled out on Wednesday (Oct. 25).

That’s according to news from Voicebot, which reported that, with the subscription service, Jeopardy! Alexa skill users get six extra clues each day, along with the ability to play the game from the day before if they missed an episode. Up until the update, Jeopardy! Skills users were only allowed to play six clues and were out of luck if they missed that day’s game, noted the report.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said: “Amazon introduced the ability for customers to access premium subscription content within the Jeopardy! skill … The developer tools to create subscription skills are currently in preview with Jeopardy! We’ll notify developers when the tools are more broadly available.”

Amazon Prime members get the new features for free, while non-Prime members have to pay for Prime or pay $1.99 a month for the feature.  

“For customers who love the Jeopardy! experience they have with Alexa today, nothing will change. They’ll still be able to enjoy the original six clues each day at no cost. Bringing a subscription model to skills for Alexa will bring customers the benefit of new, engaging and high-quality experiences, while providing developers an additional way to earn money from their skills,” the spokesperson noted in the report.

According to Voicebot, it’s not surprising that Amazon would choose Jeopardy! to launch a subscription, because it is a popular skill. It’s also not surprising that the eCommerce company would make sure the existing free version remains in place. Same with the fact that Amazon would make sure developers make money by bringing high-quality subscription services to Amazon’s voice assistant’s skills.

The report noted that it’s not clear when the skill feature will be made available to developers beyond a preview version and if it will take a fee from the subscription transactions.