The DTC (Direct-to-consumer) race is moving into the next stage – it is no longer just about who has their own streaming service and apps. Now, it is about who partners with whom and how deep those partnerships go.

One player stands out here – Prime Video. With its unique position and full streaming ecosystem, it is well positioned to further expand its role in Europe and beyond—specifically by aggregating other streaming services within its platform. With Prime Video Channels, Amazon has built a mighty tool to incorporate a variety of content partners, with two major differentiators:

1) No hardware dependency: Once integrated, the channels run in the Prime Video app on any device.

2) Content-first: Prime Video does not necessarily sell the channel, but rather promotes content that leads to channel subscriptions.

In contrast to Apple and YouTube, Amazon is constantly expanding the number of Prime Video channels in all markets where they are active. 

Some examples: They now run 154 channels in the US (up 4 channels since March 25), 107 in Germany (up 5 channels since March 25) and 74 in the UK (up 3 channels since March 25).

Through its international presence, Prime Video is an attractive partner to efficiently scale into multiple markets, as seen with partners like DAZN, HBO Max, Paramount+ or Apple TV+. 

Among global SVOD streamers, two stand out as outliers: Netflix and Disney+. Both are following their own unique paths and will soon be competing with Prime Video not just at the streaming level, but at the platform level.

Prime Video is also becoming increasingly relevant for local partners. Major broadcast groups in Europe that initially held back are now joining the service. In Spain, atresplayer is available; in Italy, Mediaset Infinity; and in France, the public broadcaster France.tv recently signed on.

Prime Video is also uniquely positioned to enhance its offering in specific content verticals. 

Take sports, for example. In Germany, Prime Video offers Champions League games, full coverage of Wimbledon plus dozens of NBA games starting in October. Through the integration of partners like DAZN and recently WOW, Prime Video becomes a one-stop-shop, running on all devices with frictionless upsell flows to add Prime Video channels.