Amazon buys comedy service Rooftop Media to beef up its audio content

Amazon has acquired audio and video comedy company Rooftop Media for an undisclosed amount of money today.

The move marks yet another attempt by Amazon to beef up the amount of original content found on both its complimentary streaming video service Amazon Prime Instant Video, as well as its other digital content offerings, such as audio book service Audible.

Rooftop provides standup comedians with a new source of revenue by placing their performances online. It also acts as a distribution channel for third-party Web publishers to include content from Rooftop into their own services.

The purchase was first reported by Reuters, which stated that the deal will see Amazon-owned Audible merge the entire 10-person Rooftop team into its service. The purchase was said to be prompted by a combination of Rooftop’s content and its talent.