Amazon Feb. 2 reported a record $9.19 billion in fourth quarter (ended Dec. 31, 2022) subscription revenue, which was up 17% from revenue of $8.12 billion in the previous year period. Subscription revenue includes sales of transactional VOD and electronic sellthrough video, music, audiobooks and Prime memberships.
Notable Prime membership drivers included Amazon’s exclusive distribution of NFL “Thursday Night Football,” which required a Prime Video subscription to access, as well as the original series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
Over the quarter, more than 100 million viewers worldwide streamed the first season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” making it the most-watched Amazon original series in every region of the world, with more than 24 billion minutes streamed, and driving more Prime sign-ups worldwide during its launch window than any previous Prime Video content, according to Amazon.
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Amazon Studios also announced the all-female slate of directors — Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Louise Hooper — for season two of the series, which is currently in production in the United Kingdom.
“Thursday Night Football” finished with the youngest median age of any NFL broadcast package since 2013, with viewership up 11% from last season among hard-to-reach 18- to 34-year-olds, according to Nielsen
Media Research. “TNF” featured the most streamed NFL games ever, with an average audience of 11.3 million viewers, according to combined data from Amazon’s first-party measurement metrics and Nielsen.
Prime Video premiered several original series and films, including Western drama The English, with Emily Blunt; family-friendly competition show “Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge”; My Policeman, starring Harry Styles; and the documentary Good Night Oppy. Prime Video also released new seasons of existing series, including the fourth volume of Rihanna’s annual
fashion experience “Savage X Fenty” and the third season of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” starring John Krasinski.
“Wednesday,” an MGM-produced series exclusively on Netflix, debuted at No. 1 on Nielsen’s weekly streaming charts and earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Musical or Comedy Series and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series (Jenna Ortega). MGM is owned by Amazon.
CFO Brian Olsavsky said Amazon Studios would spend $7 billion on original content in 2023, up from $5 billion in 2021.
Finally, Prime Channels saw the return of HBO Max after reaching an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. Max had left Prime Channels in 2021 following a carriage dispute, causing it to lose 5 million subscribers in the process.
“It seems Prime members respond to our expanding content offerings,” Olsavsky said on the fiscal webcast. “Video has proven to be a strong driver of Prime member engagement and new Prime member acquisition.”
