Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has announced that the company’s premium video service, Prime Video, has surpassed 200 million monthly viewers.
Andy Jassy said, “Recently, we’ve expanded our streaming TV advertising by introducing ads into Prime Video shows and movies, where brands can reach over 200 million monthly viewers in our most popular entertainment offerings, across hit movies and shows, award-winning Amazon MGM Originals, and live sports like Thursday Night Football.”
Amazon recently started rolling out ads within Prime Video in major markets, including the U.S., as of January 29. Users can now opt for an ad-free experience by paying an additional $2.99 per month. Some analysts have predicted that these Prime Video ads could generate over $3 billion in revenue for Amazon in 2024.
Additionally, it’s important to note that the term “viewers” differs from “subscribers” or “accounts.” For reference, Netflix had 260.28 million global subscribers, at the end of 2023, indicating that its total viewership even surpasses this number.
Andy Jassy in Amazon’s annual letter to shareholders revealed that, “We have increasing conviction that Prime Video can be a large and profitable business on its own. This confidence is buoyed by the continued development of compelling, exclusive content (e.g. Thursday Night Football, Lord of the Rings, Reacher, The Boys, Citadel, Road House, etc.), Prime Video customers’ engagement with this content, growth in our marketplace programs (through our third-party Channels program, as well as the broad selection of shows and movies customers rent or buy), and the addition of advertising in Prime Video.”
Amazon has notably invested $4 billion in the AI start-up Anthropic, securing a minority stake in the company. As part of this partnership, Anthropic will utilize Amazon’s custom-designed chips to train, build, and deploy its future models. Additionally, Anthropic will provide AWS customers access “to future generations of its foundation models,” in its long-term commitment.
Andy Jassy wrote in the letter, “We’re building a substantial number of GenAI applications across every Amazon consumer business,” although “the vast majority will ultimately be built by other companies.”
On the other hand, a group of dissatisfied Prime customers, in February, launched a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing them of false advertising and deceptive practices. Amazon has declined to comment on this matter, as it seeks class-action status.