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Antenna: Amazon driving subscription growth to smaller streaming services

A refreshed version of the Amazon Prime Video app. (Prime Video image courtesy Amazon, Graphic by The Desk)

Amazon’s Prime Video Channels marketplace is responsible for more than half of all new subscriptions to smaller, niche and special streaming services like AMC Plus, Crunchyroll, BET Plus and BBC Select, according to a new report by measurement firm Antenna. The report examined consumer streaming trends during the second quarter (Q2) of the year.

The Antenna report says nearly one-third of subscription video on-demand (SVOD) customers used a specialty streaming platform by the end of Q2, with specialty SVOD growth logged at 25.4 percent, up nearly 4 percentage points compared to Q1.

AMC+ is driving the growth with 15 percent of new sign-ups during Q2, followed by Amazon’s own MGM+ with 14 percent and Crunchryoll at 12 percent.

Amazon is driving 58 percent of sales among smaller and niche SVOD platforms, Antenna affirmed, owed in large part to the marketing prowess of Prime Video, the streaming service that comes free with a Prime membership. On most devices, Prime Video allows customers to add other SVOD services through the Prime Video Channels marketplace, with content immediately available through the Prime Video app.

Other streaming platforms like Apple TV, Roku and YouTube have similar marketplaces, but are not driving the same level of growth as Amazon and Prime Video, Antenna said.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is a nationally-recognized, award-winning journalist who has covered the business of media, technology, radio and television for more than 11 years. He is the publisher of The Desk and contributes to Know Techie, Digital Content Next and StreamTV Insider. He previously worked for Thomson Reuters, the Walt Disney Company, McNaughton Newspapers and Tribune Broadcasting.
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