Amazon’s Q3 print was messy: the company missed earnings estimates, ad revenue growth slowed, and heavy AI investment squeezed free cash flow. But CEO Andy Jassy used the earnings call to point at one business that has stopped being a drag.
Prime Video crosses into profit
Jassy said Prime Video is now profitable “in its own right,” with a revenue run rate in the tens of billions of dollars. The disclosure reframes a service long seen as a costly add-on to Prime memberships.
Amazon’s 10-Q filing showed video and music expense of $5.9 billion for Q3, up about 7% year over year. Across the first nine months of 2026, content spending reached $18.8 billion, up about 20%.
What is carrying the audience
Live sports and returning franchises are doing the heavy lifting. Thursday Night Football’s fifth season averaged 17.7 million viewers through six games, up 16% over last year’s full-season average, per Nielsen. NBA on Prime’s second season opened with more than 2 million U.S. viewers in its doubleheader, more than twice last year’s full-season average.
- Reacher Season 4: 66 million global viewers in its first 28 days.
- Carrie: 2.1 billion minutes viewed through October 22, per Luminate.
Why profitability changes the pitch
A tens-of-billions run rate puts Prime Video in the top tier of streaming revenue generators. Profitability also gives Amazon room to keep funding sports rights and original franchises without having to justify the spend purely as Prime retention. That is a different position from a loss-making streamer defending content budgets.
For media planners, the read is structural: Prime Video can now be held to the same reach and frequency standards as linear sports, not treated as a retail add-on. Track TNF and NBA delivery each season, price Prime Video as a sustainable TV option, and don’t ignore Amazon’s overall ad slowdown just because streaming numbers are strong. If group ad growth stays soft while content spending keeps rising, expect the platform to push harder for share of TV budgets.
Source: Variety
