By Jonathan Easton

Almost half of all US broadband households are subscribed to Amazon Prime Video.

According to consumer research from Parks Associates, 47 per cent of broadband households in the country subscribe to Prime Video, putting it behind only Netflix.

The report notes that 77.3 million US households are Amazon Prime members and that roughly 71 per cent watch Prime Video, totaling nearly 55 million households in Q1 2021.

While a significant number of Prime subscribers are evidently not engaging with Amazon’s video content, the report points out that recent deals should help entice new users. These high profile deals include a US$1 billion rights agreement with the NFL and the US$8.45 billion purchase of James Bond film studio MGM.

While the latter deal has garnered more headlines, Parks Associates suggests that it is the former which could best serve Amazon in the competitive US OTT market. Its research of 10,000 US broadband households found 55 per cent of pay TV households consider live sports important in their decision to keep their service, while more than two-thirds of online pay TV subscribers and 43 per cent of traditional pay TV subscribers who cancelled their service during the COVID-19 pandemic would be likely to re-subscribe following the return of live sports

Research director, Parks Associates, Steve Nason said: “In its first all-streaming package, the NFL inked a ten-year agreement with Amazon Prime Video for the streaming rights to fifteen Thursday Night Football games and one pre-season game per year in the US, beginning in 2022. By offering live games, streaming services give the significant market of NFL fans a reason to subscribe.

“As OTT becomes an integral part of its strategy, the NFL is working to secure viewers, and profits, for the next decade, and the Amazon partnership represents an outstanding and unprecedented opportunity to set the stage for success.”