Amazon Prime Video Review 2022

Amazon Prime Video is one of the most popular on-demand streaming providers, and it’s also a standard part of any Amazon Prime membership. If you sign up for Prime shipping to get your sundries and electronics delivered for free, you’ve also got thousands of video titles at your disposal. You can also purchase the video service as a standalone app. 

Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video gives viewers a wide choice of movies, TV shows, and original programming at a competitive price. In addition to the vast on-demand library, there are some movies and shows available for rent and purchase.

Amazon first moved into the instant video space in 2006 as Amazon Unbox. It was rebranded Video on Demand in 2008 and Amazon Instant Video in 2011. The service purchased pay-TV channel Epix in 2012 and merged with Amazon’s UK subsidiary, LoveFilm, in 2014. By the end of the first quarter of 2021, Amazon Prime Video counted 200 million subscribers, an increase of 50 million from the previous year. The service is quickly catching up to Netflix, which has 207.6 million subscribers.

Amazon Prime Video Plans and Pricing

 Amazon Prime Video
Monthly price$8.99
Free trial length30 days
Number of TV shows and filmsAbout 2,100 TV shows, 24,000 movies
Live sports streaming?Yes
Movie rentals?Yes
Streaming qualityUp to 4K Ultra HD

When it comes to pricing, Amazon Prime Video is similar to other major streaming services. It is slightly cheaper than  Netflix’s “Basic” plan, which is $9.99/mo, while Hulu comes in a bit cheaper at $6.99/ month for an entry-level plan with limited ads. Additionally, SlingTV is a bit pricier, with the cheapest package priced at $35/mo. for just over 30 channels.

Another benefit of Amazon Prime Video is that it’s included with a Prime membership, which is $14.99/mo. or $139/yr. — nearly $41 savings annually. That means subscribers who sign up for Prime to enjoy free shipping can hop online and start watching videos for no extra charge.

Amazon Prime Video Interface

Amazon Prime Video’s interface is user friendly, especially when compared to the notoriously challenging Hulu platform. Subscribers can log in using any existing Amazon Prime account and create video profiles for up to six people. After signing in, videos are sorted into categories like “Amazon Originals”, “TV Shows,” “Movies,” “Kids”, “Sports”, etc.

Once a user watches a few videos, the interface will also make recommendations based on previous views. Both free and paid video options are available. If you rent a title using Amazon Prime Video, you have 30 days to begin watching and 48 hours to complete it once you hit Play.

The interface experience is consistent across streaming devices. Whether you log on using a web browser or the Amazon Prime Video app, you can expect the same categories and recommendations. You can also download Amazon Prime Video on popular streaming devices like Roku and Fire TV. The only difference is that smaller screens will have a modified and responsive setup that requires a bit more scrolling because there is less horizontal space. 

Amazon Prime Video Supported Devices

Subscribers can watch Prime Video on any device that supports the service’s app, such as gaming consoles, mobile phones, and smart TVs. Other possibilities include computer or laptop browsers.

If you begin watching a movie or show on one device, you can pick up where you left off on another device, as long as you log in with the same Prime Video account. Prime Video is compatible with the following devices:

  • Amazon Echo devices with a screen, such as Echo Show and Echo Spot
  • Amazon Fire phones and tablets
  • Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV sticks
  • Android phones and tablets
  • Android TV/Google TV
  • Apple iOS phones and tablets
  • Apple TV
  • Changhong, Haier, Hisense, Insignia, JVC, Konka, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Skyworth, Sony, TCL, and Vizio Smart TVs
  • Comcast X1, Cox Contour, Dish Network, Nvidia Shield, Tivo, and Xiaomi media players, and set-top boxes
  • Google Chromecast
  • LG, Panasonic Samsung, and Sony Blu-ray players
  • Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
  • Prime Video VR for Oculus
  • Roku
  • Sony PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5

What to Watch on Amazon Prime Video

Prime Video has a huge library to satisfy subscribers’ content appetites, from Hollywood movies and popular TV series to original programming. Content categories available to choose from include:

  • Action & Adventure
  • Anime 
  • Black Voices
  • Comedy
  • Children & Family
  • Coming of Age
  • Documentary
  • Drama
  • Exercise and Fitness
  • Fantasy
  • Foreign
  • Horror
  • International
  • LGBTQ
  • Military and War
  • Music Videos and Concerts
  • Musical
  • Mystery
  • Romance
  • Science Fiction
  • Sports
  • Thriller
  • Western

Amazon Originals: Series

Prime Video has one of the best line-ups of original programming available in the on-demand streaming, including its own documentaries and TV series. 

Amazon Original series include the Emmy-Award winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which stars Rachel Brosnahan as a stand-up comedian in the late 1950s; Goliath, starring Billy Bob Thornton as a washed-up lawyer; Hunters, which is based on the true story of Nazi hunters in America in the 1970s, featuring Al Pacino; The Man In The High Castle, an action-packed series based on the concept what if the Axis powers won World War II; and Upload, a sci-fi comedy in which people can upload their consciousness to the digital afterlife. 

Other binge-worthy original shows include David Tennant and Simon Pegg in Good Omens, based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel; quirky superheroes show The Boys; and Tim Roth playing a British detective who becomes chief of police in a small American town in Tin Star. In 2022, the platform added As We See It, a unique dramedy about three adults on the Autism spectrum who are navigating life in their twenties. 

Amazon Originals: Movies

The service’s original movie line-up is smaller, but new original movies include The Tomorrow War, which stars Chris Pratt in a sci-fi drama of time travelers arriving from 2051; Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, which stars Michael B. Jordan as an elite Navy SEAL; and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, starring Sacha Baron Cohen in the sequel to Borat

Previous releases include Casey Affleck in the gripping Manchester By The Sea, a 2016 hit romantic comedy; The Big Sick, about a couple from different cultures navigating a major illness; and the South Korean crime thriller, The Handmaiden from Park Chan-Wook, director of Oldboy. Amazon Studios also released Brittany Runs a Marathon on Amazon Prime Video, which won the Audience Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Amazon Prime Video makes up for its lack of original movies with a strong line-up of Hollywood hits headlined by Forrest Gump, Poetic Justice, The Village, Mission: Impossible 3, and much more.

the pale horse

Prime Video Movies

The Prime Video movie library is vast, with about 24,000 titles, but it helps viewers with helpful categories like “New Releases,” to find the most recently distributed movies, and “Award Winners”, showcasing movies that have been nominated or won awards. It offers a combination of free movies and those that can be rented or purchased. 

Select movies in the top-rated category include Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9, about the 2016 presidential election; the romantic comedy This Means War, starring Reese Witherspoon; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring Megan Fox and Johnny Knoxville.

Among the current most popular movies are Billionaire Boys Club, about a group of wealthy boys in Los Angeles who started a get-rich-quick Ponzi scheme; and Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, and Vin Diesel.

The service also groups movie collections. Among the popular movie bundles are 2-movie collections such as Amazing Spider-Man and Jumanji; 3-movie collections such as The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Bad Boys, John Wick, and 50 Shades; 4-movie groups like The Hunger Games, Avengers, Indiana Jones, and Men in Black; and even the 5-movie Rambo and Jurassic Park collections, 6-movie Mission Impossible group, 8-movie Harry Potter set, and 9-movie Star Wars collection.

Prime Video TV Shows

Amazon Prime Video offers a large selection of binge-worthy TV series such as Downton Abbey, about the lives of a British aristocratic family and their servants and Hugh Laurie starring in House, about an antisocial doctor specializing in diagnostic medicine. In all, you can choose from about 2,100 TV shows, about 200 more than what is available on Netflix. 

If you don’t get your fix from the available show titles on Prime’s on-demand library, you can also add additional channels to your Amazon Prime Video service. For instance, you can add an AMC+ channel for $8.99/mo., giving you access to TV shows like The Walking Dead, Kevin Can F**k Himself, Killing Eve, and more.

Prime Video Sports

Sports fans are also well served by Prime Video, with a choice of shows, movies, and live-action. Among the action fans can watch are MLB, NFL, NBA, and WNBA games, along with the PGA Tour.

The service excels when it comes to sports-related documentary series. All Or Nothing takes viewers behind the scenes for a season with several NFL teams, including the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, and Philadelphia Eagles; along with Premier League soccer teams Arsenal, Manchester City, and Tottenham Hotspur; the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs; and other teams. 

Take Us Home focuses on the exploits of English soccer side Leeds United, while the Venus and Serena show highlights the U.S.’s top female tennis players. The 6-part documentary, This is Football explores the sport of soccer’s influence across the world. 

Top sports movies include Friday Night Lights, which stars Billy Bob Thornton and is about high school football in Permian, Texas; and Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, about the Oakland Athletics.

You can find live events, including sports, in the “Live & Upcoming” row on your homepage. To gain access to real-time stats, use X-Ray for live sports. This enables features like live play-by-plays, player information, scores, and more. You can access X-Ray on devices such as Fire TV remotes, iOS, and Android phones, plus iOS and Android tablets.

Add-on Channels

Subscribers can enhance their viewing options even further with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Cinemax ($9.99/mo.), Epix ($5.99/mo.), Showtime ($10.99/mo.), and Starz ($8.99/mo.) are just a few of the more than 100 additional available channels.

You can also add entertainment choices like Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) ($5.99/mo.), Hallmark Movies Now ($5.99/mo.), Lifetime Movie Club ($3.99/mo.), and Sundance Now ($6.99/mo.). And there are few sports add-ons in MLB.TV ($24.99/mo. for the all-team pass and $44.99/yr. for the single team pass), NBA TV ($6.99/mo.), NBA League Pass ($28.99/mo. for the all-team pass and $17.99/mo. for the single team pass), and more.

Amazon Prime Video Features

Watch Party

In 2020, the platform added something called Watch Party, which is free to all Prime members. With this feature, 100 people can join the same stream to watch movies and shows and chat online. However, it’s only available on select computer browsers (not Apple Safari or Internet Explorer) and FireTV devices. You can also log on using an iOS device, such as an iPhone or iPad. Gaming consoles, however, are not currently compatible with Watch Party. If the movie or show is only available to buy or rent, then everyone in the Watch Party must buy or rent it to be able to participate.

Downloadable Content

Amazon Prime Video subscribers can take their favorite movies and shows on the go by downloading content on tablets or mobile phones. The amount of storage is not limited by Prime Video — it is dependent on how much space subscribers have on their devices.

Simultaneous Streams and Profiles

The platform enables three simultaneous streams per account, but the same show or movie can only be watched on two separate devices at the same time. However, unlike services such as Netflix, Prime Video does not permit the creation of multiple profiles. 

Meanwhile, Prime Video also allows subscribers to make it easy to share an account; you can create up to six user profiles, which includes a default primary profile and five others on a single Prime Video account. Subscribers can also designate profiles for children and limit available programs.

Parental Controls

Subscribers can manage the content available to other users like children via the Parental Controls feature, which enables them to implement age restrictions on specific devices that can only be modified with PIN access. 

Prime Video Mobile App

The Prime Video mobile app is available for most mobile devices, including phones and tablets. The user interface is very similar to the TV and computer interface, including TV and movie categories and “Watch Next” recommendations. Subscribers can even find the same titles on the mobile app for Android and iOS as are available on a browser.

The mobile app has a specific “Store” icon at the bottom to make it easier to find rentals and videos available for purchase. As you watch a TV program on a mobile device, the app automatically downloads the next episode for you. 

While Android users have always been able to purchase and rent videos from their device’s Amazon Prime app, Apple users can now do the same. Previously, subscribers had to leave their iOS Amazon Prime Video app to go to an Amazon Prime browser and purchase content. 

Downloading Content on Prime Video

Subscribers can also download Prime Videos to a mobile device, which makes it easy to watch videos later when you’re not connected to the internet (like on an airplane). It’s worth noting that Amazon says only selected Prime Video titles are available to download and some videos are only available for download in certain locations. 

The instructions for how to download a title vary slightly based on whether you’re watching a TV show or movie. Here are some general details to get started:

  1. Open the Prime Video app on the mobile device.
  2. Search for a TV show or movie by title or genre.
  3. Tap on the video to open its “Detail” page.
  4. Tap the downward arrow. If there is no download arrow, the title is not available for download.

For movies, these are the only instructions necessary. To download TV shows, you can choose to download the entire season or single episodes. Download entire seasons from the “Detail” page, or go to the list of episodes to download specific titles.

In the Android app and in Windows 10, subscribers can select the location where the download will be stored. 

The Final Cut

Amazon Prime Video has one of the largest movie libraries available, a strong range of original programming, and plenty of add-on channels. That’s why it made our list of best streaming services. It also offers high-quality viewing with 4K Ultra HD streaming, plus all the additional benefits of an Amazon Prime membership, such as free two-day and one-day shipping, access to Amazon Music, free Audible titles, discounts at Whole Foods Market, exclusive deals, and much more.Learn more about an Amazon Prime Video free trial here.

Disclaimer: To address the growing use of ad blockers we now use affiliate links to sites like http://Amazon.com, streaming services, and others. Affiliate links help sites like Cord Cutters News, stay open. Affiliate links cost you nothing but help me support my family. We do not allow paid reviews on this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from :

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices here.