Amazon Prime Video is greater than a aspect advantage of a Prime membership — Amazon is constructing out the streaming service to face by itself.
Jeff Bezos noticed Prime Video “as a chance to construct a media firm,” not simply as an offshoot of Prime, Prime Video head Mike Hopkins informed Reuters on Wednesday.
Amazon has labored in direction of that imaginative and prescient for 4 years. Prime Video grew to become the largest ad-supported streaming service within the U.S. in January after it began peppering films and exhibits with advertisements by default for its 115 million U.S. subscribers. Prime Video comes with Amazon’s $14.99 monthly Prime membership; as of January, choosing no advertisements prices $2.99 additional monthly.
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Most subscribers selected to not pay extra monthly for ad-free viewing — solely 15% opted to pay additional. The swap to advertisements had no influence on Amazon’s general subscriber rely, based on a Hub survey, and will usher in $1.3 billion in advert income this 12 months and $2.3 billion subsequent 12 months, based on Wall Road analysis agency MoffettNathanson.
“Nearly in a single day, Amazon Prime Video dramatically remodeled the video promoting ecosystem,” mentioned Mark Loughney, a Hub senior guide. 
Jeff Bezos. (Picture by Emma McIntyre/Getty Pictures)
Amazon framed the shift to advertisements as a method to hold investing in Prime Video. Amazon MGM Studios had its largest 12 months in 2023 with 68 Emmy nominations for unique content material like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Nielsen’s June TV and streaming report discovered that although Prime Video was not as widespread as Netflix and YouTube, it got here out forward of Hulu, Disney+, and Peacock. The Prime Video unique sequence The Boys drew 4 billion viewing minutes in June.
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