Key Points
- Amazon executives say the ad-supported tier of Prime Video now reaches more than 315 million global streaming users.
- The company didn’t specify what it considers to be a “viewer,” or how it arrived at the number.
- The data point was released as part of a broader presentation on Amazon’s connected TV ad products and innovations.
The ad-supported tier of Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video now reaches more than 315 million monthly active users, the company disclosed during a conference this week.
The data point was revealed as part of Amazon’s “UnBoxed” event in Nashville, during which it showcased new ad products and innovations tied to Prime Video and other Amazon products.
Amazon has focused on advertising as the next front for its streaming video business, which has largely been supported by the company’s retail membership Prime. Shows and movies offered through Prime Video did not contain ad breaks until January 2024, when the company switched the default tier of service to one supported by ads. Streamers can pay a separate $3 per month fee to remove commercial interruptions from on-demand shows and movies, though live sports and similar events still have ad breaks.
Amazon is hoping most of its Prime members are willing to stay on the ad-supported plan, and there is research that indicates that to be the case: A report last year from measurement firm Antenna found 11 million Prime customers were paying extra to stay on the ad-supported tier. The number is likely higher, because Antenna data is obtained through financial statements and other indirect methods, but the prevailing thought is that the majority of customers who watch Prime content never bother to pay for the privilege of removing ads from shows and movies.
Curiously, Amazon didn’t say what it considers to be an “active user,” so it isn’t clear if the number correlates to individual subscriptions or a presumed household audience. Netflix drew criticism last week after introducing a new metric, called Monthly Average Viewers (MAV), which was based on its own internal data and proprietary formula of how many people in a household were likely to watch its content with ads. In that case, there did not appear to be a definitive line between subscriber count and household size. Netflix stopped reporting subscriber counts earlier this year.
In any case, Amazon used the data point to show prospective and current advertisers that people are tuned in to Prime Video with ads — an important position as the company continues to pursue expensive live sports rights to bolster the prominence of its service.
In addition to content expansion, Amazon Ads is also rolling out new AI-driven products intended to simplify campaign creation and management across its ecosystem. A new tool called the Unified Campaign Manager combines the Amazon Ads Console and Demand-Side Platform into one interface, providing centralized performance metrics and enabling what Amazon says is a 67 percent faster campaign launch time.
A new Creative Agent tool uses generative AI to analyze brand assets and automatically produce ad creative, including video spots for streaming TV. According to the company, the system allows advertisers to generate high-quality ad materials within days instead of weeks.
Amazon also introduced Ads Agent, an AI tool designed to support audience strategy and real-time optimization, and Full-funnel Campaigns, which automatically manages cross-channel marketing across Sponsored Products, display and streaming TV.
Executives described these products as part of a broader shift toward what Amazon calls “agentic AI,” or automation that supports human creativity and strategic decision-making.
