Amazon is uniquely positioned within the video-on-demand industry, given that millions of consumers already use the company’s other services for everything from shopping to cloud computing. Nearly 100 million people subscribe to Amazon Prime in the U.S. as of June 2018. Amazon also has an established brand outside of the United States, meaning that it is easier for the company to expand to global markets. As of the second quarter of 2017, an estimated 20 percent of internet users worldwide used Amazon Prime Video.
In its attempt to compete with Netflix, Amazon spends hundreds of millions of dollars on production and marketing expenses for its own original series. The company spent over 100 million on production and marketing for the second season of one of its most popular original programs, The Man in the High Castle. In addition to its original programming, Amazon has also continuously increased its selection of TV shows and movies. Movies are the most common type of content viewed on Amazon Prime Video, with around 66 percent of consumers using the service to watch recently released movies in 2017.
As expected, younger demographics seem to be the most frequent viewers of Amazon’s video content. Around 23 percent of video-on-demand users from the 18-29 age bracket stated that they viewed Amazon’s content at least once per day. Part of the reason for Amazon’s growing viewership number is likely due to the strength of the platform itself. Only 10 percent of people had an unfavorable view of Amazon’s video-on-demand platform in 2018.
In 2015, Amazon added a new feature to its streaming platform called Amazon Channels, which allows users to access content from other, third-party subscription services such as HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax. As of April 2018, Amazon offers 155 unique channels in the United States, as well as 68 in the United Kingdom. In addition to Amazon’s own content, its Channels give customers access to tens of thousands of additional titles.
