Amazon Prime Day Show 2021 with Billie Eilish, H.E.R. and Kid Cudi is evidence of a growing trend in OTT performances

Billie Eilish in the 2021 'Amazon Prime Day Show' (screen shot).

Billie Eilish, H.E.R., and Kid Cudi are co-headlining this year's Amazon Prime Day Show in a way that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago: in distinct 25-29 minute glammed up "episodes" that are neither reality TV nor fictional shows nor straight-up live streams.

Compare this with 2019's Amazon Prime Day Show with Taylor Swift, or 2018's event with Ariana Grande, and you begin to appreciate the shift.

Indeed, this shift is a kind of natural evolution for streamed performances.  The performers and performances are real, but the experiences are staged in a way that was previously only possible within the music video. And for the most part, this new kind of performance can make for a better, more intimate viewing experience.

We've see this shift on other OTT platforms, too, where live performances and streamed shows are being replaced by more medium-specific creations.

Case in point: Bo Burnham's experimental comedy show Inside on Netflix. Unlike the straight-up streamed version of live comedy shows (and we've seen a few of those, too, even from Burnham on Netflix - think Make Happy, what.), the current shows use technology (and the distance that the medium affords - there's no live audience) to do things that might have been impossible (or might have looked contrived and out-of-place) in a live show.

Coming back to the Prime Day Show, what can you look forward to in this three-part special that Amazon is calling an "immersive musical experience"? Some great music, elevated by great backstories like Kid Cudi's collaboration with NASA scientists who also play music.

And Billie Eilish's hope that everyone feels "transported", and can go with her into the world of the video.

The show - as usual - was made possible by a massive collaboration between Amazon Music, Amazon Studios, and Amazon Prime (you can imagine the amount of talent the three mini-musicals drew upon - and we're not just talking about the headliners). The objective is the same as previous years: get more people to sign-up for Amazon Prime ahead of the Prime Day sales. The shift is in how we make and view streamed performances - and for now, it feels getting a lightening deal on a product you wanted any way.