Amazon finally gives Prime Video a profit line
On Thursday’s earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Prime Video now has a revenue run rate in the “tens of billions” of dollars and repeated that the service is “profitable in its own right.” Amazon does not split out Prime Video’s subscribers or financials, so this is as close as the company has come to saying the streaming business is no longer subsidised by the rest of the retail machine.
The disclosure landed in a mixed quarter for Amazon. Net sales grew 12% to $201.9 billion, but shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading after the company missed Wall Street expectations and issued softer fourth-quarter guidance of $240 billion to $247 billion.
The scale behind the ad tier
Prime Video’s ad-supported tier now reaches over 315 million monthly active users globally, including more than 130 million in the United States. Users can upgrade to ad-free for $4.99 a month.
For media planners, that matters for two reasons. First, it is CTV inventory at true global scale, available in markets including India, Brazil, Germany, Japan and the U.K. Second, Amazon has fused it with the retail data layer: the new AI-powered Ads Agent pulls from shopping, browsing and streaming signals, and full-funnel campaigns now put sponsored ads, display, video and streaming TV into a single buy for U.S. advertisers.
What is driving the audience
- Thursday Night Football is averaging 17.7 million viewers through six games, up 16% on last year’s full-season average and off to its best start ever.
- NBA on Prime more than doubled last season’s full-year average, drawing over 2 million U.S. viewers in the season-opening doubleheader.
- Reacher Season 4 pulled 66 million viewers in its first 28 days.
- Amazon MGM Studios has crossed $1.2 billion in global box office so far in 2026.
Jassy also listed hits such as Carrie, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Boys, Off Campus and Fallout, plus Project Hail Mary and live sports including NASCAR, The Masters and UEFA Champions League.
The business read
Subscription-segment revenue, which includes Prime memberships and digital video, rose 12% to $14 billion. Advertising services revenue also grew 12% to $19.64 billion, though Amazon said the number had pressure from “timing anomalies” related to Prime Day. Fourth-quarter ad revenue growth is expected to be in the high-teens.
Prime Video will also become the home of the Emmys from 2027 through 2033, taking the telecast to more than 240 countries in a deal reported to be worth about $15 million a year. AWS remains the bigger profit engine: net sales grew 39% to $46 billion, its fastest growth in nearly five years, with an $184 billion revenue run rate.
The takeaway for entertainment marketers: Prime Video is no longer a loss-leader to debate. It is a scaled, retail-informed video business that Amazon can now point to as profitable on its own terms.
Source: TheWrap
