Amazon Prime has become a household essential, with Parks Associates estimating 77.3 million households held a membership in Q1 2021. Of those, 71% take advantage of Amazon’s streaming service that comes with a membership, Prime Video.
According to new research, Parks also estimates that Amazon Prime Video has a 45% penetration rate of internet households in the U.S. as of the third quarter of 2021.
Prime Video is considered to be one of the Big Four quintessential streaming services alongside Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+, and although it has recently upped its subscription cost, it’s also increasing its consumer value with new content like the highly anticipated (and expensive) Lord of the Rings series set to premiere this fall.
Amazon has raised its annual Prime Membership prices four times, starting out at just $79 in 2005 and recently raising to $139 as of this year.
Prime Memberships aren’t the only thing that have increased. Hulu increased its price last year and Netflix subscription costs went up at the beginning of 2022. Disney+ hasn’t seen a price hike…yet. But the service is still pretty new and subscription cost fluctuations will become inevitable at some point.
“With inflation and the cost of content on the rise, we will likely see more providers start to slowly raise their subscription prices, trying to find that balance between revenue growth and consumer value,” said Eric Sorensen, Senior Contributing Analyst, Parks Associates.