Amazon Prime continues to set the bar for subscription based shopping perks. The relatively cheap membership provides subscribers with exclusive sales, free two-day shipping and access to Amazon’s Prime video content. In the past, the free video content seemed like an afterthought–many Prime subscribers didn’t even realize that that was included in their membership! Times are changing, and as streaming video services continue to dominate the video market Amazon has found itself heavily investing in its video services, and it’s paying off.
Amazon recently spoke about its fourth-quarter earnings and year-end results. During this announcement Amazon revealed that Amazon Prime members watched more than double the videos in 2016 than they did during the previous year. For the fourth quarter of 2016 Amazon reported sales of $43.7 billion, up 22% year over year, and a profit of $749 million, up from $482 million a year ago.
While some of this success can be attributed to the general growth of the OTT market, credit also has to be given to Amazon. The company has invested both the time and money to making their video content offerings some of the best available to consumers. Amazon original shows like Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle have both received numerous golden globe nominations. Amazon has gotten the attention of award critics but also, and more importantly, gotten the attention of consumers.
2016 was also the year that Amazon took their Prime membership international, expanding to more than 200 countries across the world. This international expansion has brought Amazon’s video content to an entirely new market, and it seems to be going well. It’s also important to remember that Amazon scooped up the former stars of the most successful television show in the world, Top Gear. Their new show The Grand Tour brought these stars back and their global fan base must now look to Amazon for new episodes. It’s working. The premier of The Grand Tour was the single largest premiere for Amazon with millions of viewers tuning in.
Amazon continues to grow the Prime subscriber base, by continuing to grow the services a Prime membership includes. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, said in a statement:“Prime Now added 18 new cities, which means millions more members now get one and two-hour delivery. New benefits were also added to the list, like Prime Reading, Audible Channels for Prime, Twitch Prime and more. And customers noticed — tens of millions of new paid members joined the program in just this past year.”
2016 was a banner year for Amazon Prime and there is no reason to think 2017 will be any different. With happy customers and an ever-increasing service set, Amazon Prime is the poster child for a successful subscription services.
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