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Amazon Prime鈥檚 massive subscriber base gives Prime Video a large potential audience. But it鈥檚 challenging to convert subscribers into viewers, even if they already have access to Prime Video. 蘑菇AV 3 in 10 Prime subscribers did not use Prime Video in 2024, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) data reported by Adweek.

Amazon鈥檚 overall ad revenues grew 18% YoY in Q1 2025鈥攁nd the company is building on its Prime Video ad offerings to combat any concerns over tariff-related ad revenue losses. Amazon makes up 75% of retail media ad spending, far outperforming its competitors.

Prime Video ad costs: As advertisers cut budgets and tariffs stifle growth in previously hot sectors like CTV, Amazon is trying to keep CTV an affordable, performance-driven channel鈥攊ncluding by doubling the ad loads on Prime Video.

Prime Video ad loads will increase next year, increasing competition: Advertisers can expect higher ad loads across streaming services and lower CPMs as a result.

The opportunity: As Spotify delves into video streaming for music and podcasts, Amazon Music is heading in another direction with what鈥檚 essentially an AI Prime X-Ray for music鈥攖he feature that pops up on pause screens in Prime Video. The feature will appeal to users who have their phones in hand as they鈥檙e listening and want further research on their favorite artists.

With its InfoSum integration, advertisers can connect first-party data signals to Amazon Ads, unlocking the ability to build custom audiences and reach them with personalized messages across Prime Video, Fire TV, Twitch, and Amazon鈥檚 third-party inventory. The integration will enable retargeting, audience suppression, and lookalike modeling across Amazon鈥檚 ad inventory.

Dederick pointed to Amazon鈥檚 combined DSP, proprietary search, and Prime Video inventory as signs of closed-system behavior that echoes Google鈥檚 tactics. He argued that Amazon should avoid self-preferencing and instead take a more 鈥淢eta-like鈥� approach, focused on monetizing its owned channels rather than locking out rivals. The remarks come as Amazon鈥檚 advertising revenues continue to surge.

Amazon鈥檚 upcoming NBA package on Prime Video will feature marquee moments like a Black Friday game and offer custom branding tools, positioning the streaming giant as a key facilitator of premium ad experiences. This complements the NBA鈥檚 new $76 billion media rights agreement with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon, which kicks off next season.

Amazon Prime Video recently became the first streaming-only partner for NASCAR and will show the remaining Cups Series races after a successful May 25 showing. ESPN has seen continued success airing Formula 1 races, with average viewership nearly doubling since returning to ESPN platforms in 2018, per an ESPN press release.

Amazon鈥檚 biggest healthcare moves in 2024: Amazon has prioritized connecting Prime members with healthcare and pharmacy services. We examine which of its health-focused developments could be most impactful.

Households typically only subscribe to around three paid streaming services, and competitors like Netflix and Prime Video maintain broad appeal.

Prime Video is competitive with Netflix in numerous markets, and in some, the two come close to YouTube. Prime Video leads Netflix in three of the eight countries where we have projections for both. Only Prime Video and Disney+ appear to be operating on a similar scale internationally as Netflix. We hope to have worldwide viewership projections for both sometime in 2025.

By Q2 2025, Netflix and Max will be the only streaming services to have average CPMs higher than $30, per our September 2024 forecast.

Amazon is attempting to combat this uncertainty by expanding its video ads offerings with Prime Video, allowing it to incorporate top-of-funnel brand awareness in a way that competitors struggle to match. The company鈥檚 Upfront event on May 12 could further show how Amazon plans to offset tariff-related ad revenue losses.

Amazon Prime Video secured an 11-year deal with the NBA and an 11-year extension with the WNBA, building on its expansive sports portfolio, which already includes NFL, MLB, and NHL games. NBCUniversal-owned Peacock is adding NBA games to its sports roster, which includes college football and basketball games, soccer, NASCAR, and the Olympics.

NBCU鈥檚 move is part of the ongoing trend of companies investing in sports as a critical opportunity to reach engaged audiences: Amazon Prime Video has an 11-year deal with the NBA and 11-year extension with the WNBA, and streams Thursday Night Football. Meanwhile, Netflix is investing in boxing matches, marquee NFL games, and the WWE. But why the sports craze?

Amazon Prime Video reaches 130 million ad-supported viewers in the US alone, following its January 2024 shift to default ad inclusion. HBO Max and Peacock both highlighted their expanding ad models during the latest Upfronts, signaling continued investment in hybrid monetization.

Amazon鈥檚 $1.8 billion ad milestone solidifies a streaming leader: The launch of ads on Prime Video and Thursday Night Football are responsible for a meteoric rise.

Subscription video-on-demand rose from 62% to 69%, a promising sign for Prime Video ahead of its NBA media rights debut next season. We forecast US digital live sports viewers to surpass 121 million next year. These patterns aid in explaining why, despite a sharp increase in digital engagement, the NBA's traditional ratings declined.

The chart below measures subscription streaming price increases by tracking how the cheapest ad-free standalone subscription prices have changed for Hulu, Disney+, Max, Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, and Apple TV+ collectively.

Netflix is dominant in total viewership, but Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, and Paramount+ lead in AVOD viewers. Netflix will lead its closest sub OTT competitor by more than 30 million viewers in 2025, but its ad tier is back-of-the-pack. Only 47.7 million of Netflix鈥檚 massive viewership base will be exposed to ads this year.

The launch of ad tiers by several streaming services, including Amazon Prime Video, has increased CTV ad supply faster than demand. Viewers still watch the vast majority of ads on TV screens via linear TV, even as its share of time spent dwindles.

Last year鈥檚 introduction of ads on Prime Video further drove prices down. While ad loads have remained relatively consistent despite some notable exceptions鈥攍ike Prime Video increasing its ad load this year鈥攊nventory is still set to climb due to an increase in time spent watching streaming video.

The flood of inventory, led by Prime Video鈥檚 ad tier launch, didn鈥檛 impact free streamers as much because their inventory was already cheaper than the likes of Prime Video. During an earnings call in August 2024, Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp.