Amazon Prime catching up with Netflix concerning subscribers
By Shawn Lealos
Jeff Bezos just informed stockholders that the number of Amazon Prime subscribers has surpassed 100 million.
This is huge news. Last year, CNBC reported that there were around 65 million Amazon Prime subscribers, which made some wonder why the company was paying up to a billion dollars to make a Lord of the Rings scripted series.
However, that 65 million subscribers were estimated by CNBC and the numbers that Bezos threw out was the first time that Amazon publically and officially revealed their subscriber numbers. With the numbers given to stockholders, they are not just inflating numbers to look good.
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As previously mentioned, Amazon Prime is about more than just watching original series. People who watch Lord of the Rings on Prime Video can then buy DVDs of the original movies, clothing, posters, and even their own Rings — all from Amazon with two-day free shipping included in their membership.
Amazon Prime offers something that Netflix and Hulu don’t offer — an online shopping experience that will go hand-in-hand with whatever shows or movies that they pay to make.
With that said, Deadline reports that Bezos credited their original series for the bump in Amazon Prime subscribers. He pointed out the popularity of shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the Oscar-nominated film The Big Sick.
Reuters reported that 1.15 million people signed up for Prime just to watch the Amazon original series The Man in the High Castle. There is hope that Lord of the Rings will bring in even more. With that said, something happened to bring in 35 million more subscribers than CNBC originally estimated — and Bezos claims it is the original material that Amazon is paying to create.
Jeff Bezos talked about Sneaky Pete, Bosch, You Are Wanted and The Grand Tour as shows that helped bump the subscriber numbers. Amazon Prime also brought in Thursday Night Football and has a new Jack Ryan show coming this summer.
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When people subscribe to Amazon Prime to watch new original series, it means more people are willing to spend their money at Amazon for other things. This is why Amazon is moving even closer to surpassing Netflix as the streaming option for millions of viewers.