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Amazon Prime Video Refutes Kantar Reports of Significant Drop in Subscribers

Amazon Prime Video disagrees with Kantar’s reports of its significant drop in subscriber count since its introduction of the default ad-tier offering in January 2024. By Ching Wai.

UK - According to data from Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business as well as brand partner, Amazon Prime Video has taken the hardest fall among SVOD streaming services introducing ads in the U.K. market.

While the streaming service usually experiences a drop in Q1 and a peak in Q4, the drop Amazon experienced for Q1 2024 was particularly bigger. The negative response might be because of the default with-ads offering, which forces users to pay £2.99 more every month to avoid ads. Amazon introduced ads to its video streaming service at the end of January this year.

Following the introduction, thousands of subscribers immediately left the service - the share of new subscribers, total number of subscribers, and proportion of Prime users engaging with Prime Video all fell significantly in Q1 2024, Katar reported.

Amazon Prime Video has rejected Katar’s findings, stating, “The findings of this research are incorrect. Prime membership continues to grow in the UK, with Q1 2024 membership up year-on-year and strong customer retention. Prime Video in the UK continues to see high customer engagement, with the number of people streaming growing year-on-year. The start of 2024 has been one of Prime Video’s strongest slates ever, with Fallout, Road House, The Grand Tour, and titles such as Saltburn and Reacher from the end of 2023 continuing to acquire new customers and delight existing ones.”

Dominic Sunnebo, Global Insights Director at Kantar Worldpanel, contradicted, “...Prime Video, for example, faced significant challenges as it introduced an ad-supported tier, resulting in notable subscriber churn and dissatisfaction. In contrast, AppleTV+ has successfully held onto its leadership in new subscriptions…Netflix continues to excel…These trends underscore the critical importance of understanding consumer preferences and the impact of service changes on subscriber behaviour and market positioning.”

Around 19.9 million British households have at least one paid video streaming service in their household, including AppleTV+, Disney+, and Netflix which offer ad-tier subscriptions too.

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