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Amazon is finally shedding some light on how many of the company’s users watch Amazon Prime Video programming.
In its first quarter 2021 earnings report, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that “as Prime Video turns 10, over 175 million Prime members have streamed shows and movies in the past year, and streaming hours are up more than 70 percent year-over-year.” Bezos went on to note the critical and award success of Amazon’s programming, and the success of Amazon Web Services, which now has a $54 billion annual run rate. “We love Prime Video and AWS, and we’re proud to have them in the family,” he said.
The comment from Bezos suggests that the vast majority of Prime members watch at least some Amazon content, which includes series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and films like One Night in Miami. Amazon also streams the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. The company revealed earlier this month that it now has more than 200 million paying subscribers.
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For comparison, Netflix had about 204 million worldwide subscribers at the end of 2020, with Disney+ now above 100 million.
Overall for the quarter, Amazon revenue surged above $108 billion, up more than 40 percent year-over-year.
The company also touted its sports offerings, noting that it will get exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football beginning in 2023 (and WWE president Nick Khan told analysts last week that he believes Amazon is trying to secure earlier exclusive access), as well as a handful of New York Yankees games, which will stream for free to Prime members in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
On Thursday, Amazon also announced a new global head of sports marketing, Marc Patrick. “He will be responsible for developing breakthrough multimedia entertainment campaigns for our live sports offerings and will work closely with the NFL as the marketing lead for Thursday Night Football on Prime Video. Marc will also partner with Studios on sports docuseries and sports-themed content,” wrote Amazon Studios CMO Ukonwa Ojo in a note to staff.
Amazon also touted its work on building the backbone of the entire streaming ecosystem. Even as Prime Video competes with the likes of Netflix and Disney+, Amazon announced that “The Walt Disney Company [is] working with AWS on the expansion of Disney+ to more than 100 million subscribers around the world.”
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