Prime Video

Prime Video is Amazon's streaming weapon, bundled, sprawling, and quietly one of the most-watched platforms on Earth, yet still the one subscribers understand least.

By Alexandre Le Hégarat · datastats · Updated June 4, 2026

Amazon · Public domain

Prime Video is Amazon’s on-demand video streaming service, launched in 2006 as “Amazon Unbox” and rebranded over the years into the global juggernaut it is today. It comes bundled with an Amazon Prime membership, which also covers free shipping, Prime Music, and a raft of other perks, but can also be purchased as a standalone video-only subscription at a lower price. That dual-access model is a deliberate strategy: Amazon uses video to lock you into the broader Prime ecosystem and keep you spending.

The platform is available in over 240 countries and territories, carries a massive library of licensed content alongside Amazon Studios originals (think The Boys, Reacher, Fallout, and The Rings of Power), and has aggressively expanded into live sports, including an exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football package in the US and select NBA games. It is not a passion project; it is a retention tool for one of the world’s largest retailers.

Where Prime Video gets genuinely confusing, and where most user questions come from, is its Channels add-on system. Beyond the base library, Amazon sells bolt-on subscriptions to third-party networks (Paramount+, MGM+, Starz, and dozens more) directly through the Prime Video interface. Many subscribers sign up for these without fully realizing they’re paying extra, making the billing experience famously opaque.

Pricing varies significantly by country, and Amazon has raised prices in major markets while simultaneously introducing ads into the base tier, moves that have frustrated long-time subscribers. The brand’s own help pages are notoriously vague about the total cost of what you’re actually signed up for, which is exactly why millions of people are Googling these questions in the first place.

People also ask

Amazon owns Prime Video, fully, directly, and without outside shareholders in the streaming unit. It operates as a division of Amazon.com, Inc., which is itself publicly traded (NASDAQ: AMZN). Jeff Bezos founded Amazon; Andy Jassy has been CEO since 2021 and oversees the whole empire, Prime Video included.

Sort of, but only if you're already an Amazon Prime member. As a standalone streaming service at its standalone price, the base library struggles to match Netflix or Disney+ for depth. The real value is that Prime Video comes bundled into Prime membership alongside free shipping and other perks, so if you shop on Amazon regularly, the video service is essentially a bonus. If you're subscribing *just* for the video, run the numbers first.

In the US, a standalone Prime Video subscription costs $8.99/month (as of 2024). A full Amazon Prime membership, which includes Prime Video plus all other Prime benefits, costs $14.99/month or $139/year. Note that the base tier now includes ads; ad-free streaming costs an extra $2.99/month on top of either plan.

In the US, the video-only plan is $8.99/month; the full Prime bundle is $14.99/month. Add $2.99/month if you want no ads. Outside the US, prices differ, check Amazon's local site for your country's exact figure, as they've varied these rates across markets.

In the Philippines, Prime Video is available as a standalone subscription. Pricing has been set at around PHP 149/month or PHP 999/year, though Amazon adjusts these periodically. The Philippines also has access to a mobile-only plan at a lower price point, more on that below.

In the US: $8.99/month for video-only, or $14.99/month for full Prime membership. Ad-free costs $2.99/month extra. Internationally, prices are lower in many markets, roughly £8.99/month in the UK, €8.99/month in much of Europe, and significantly cheaper across Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Prime Video Channels are third-party streaming services sold as add-ons inside the Prime Video app, networks like Paramount+, Starz, MGM+, AMC+, and dozens more. You pay for them separately on top of your base Prime Video subscription, and Amazon takes a cut of each subscription. They're billed through Amazon, which is why they show up on your Amazon account and why people often don't realize they're paying for them.

The most common culprits are app cache issues, outdated app versions, device compatibility problems, or a regional licensing block on specific content. Server-side outages do happen, check Amazon's service health page or Downdetector to rule those out. If the issue is a specific title, it may have been removed from the library in your region; Amazon's content rights are territory-by-territory and change frequently.

In the US, $8.99/month for the video-only plan or $14.99/month for full Amazon Prime (which bundles video with shipping and other perks). The ad-free upgrade costs an additional $2.99/month. Annual Prime membership runs $139/year, which works out cheaper than paying monthly.

Amazon Prime Video is Amazon's subscription video-on-demand service, think Netflix, but owned by the world's largest online retailer and bundled with a shopping membership. It offers licensed movies and TV shows plus Amazon Studios originals, and it's layered on top with a Channels marketplace where you can bolt on other streaming services. It launched in 2006 and now operates in over 240 countries.

Amazon Prime Video secured a package of NBA games as part of the league's landmark 11-year media rights deal starting with the 2025–26 season. Prime Video will air exclusive regular-season games and playoff games in the US, making it one of the first major US sports leagues to move games exclusively behind a streaming paywall. Specific broadcast talent for the Prime NBA package had not been fully announced at the time of writing, check Amazon's sports page for the latest lineup.

Amazon.com, Inc. owns Prime Video. There is no separate ownership structure, it is a wholly-owned division of Amazon, operated under the broader Amazon Studios and Prime Video umbrella. Andy Jassy is Amazon's CEO; Mike Hopkins has served as SVP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios.

Amazon owns Amazon Prime Video entirely. It is not a joint venture, a spin-off, or a separately traded company. Amazon's shareholders, including institutional investors and founder Jeff Bezos, who still holds a significant stake in Amazon, indirectly own Prime Video as part of Amazon's overall business.

Yes, an Amazon Prime membership includes Prime Video access automatically. But they can also exist separately: you can subscribe to Prime Video on its own ($8.99/month in the US) without getting any of the other Prime perks like free shipping. Going the other direction, if you cancel Prime Video's standalone plan, you'd lose video access but keep the rest of Prime. Same app, different billing paths.

Prime Video Channels are optional, paid add-on subscriptions to third-party networks available inside the Prime Video interface, services like Paramount+, Starz, BritBox, AMC+, and more. You subscribe and pay for each one individually through Amazon, and Amazon handles the billing and streaming in one place. The catch: it's easy to forget you've subscribed, and Amazon doesn't make cancellation especially obvious.

There are three main tiers: (1) Full Amazon Prime, $14.99/month or $139/year in the US, includes Prime Video plus all other Prime benefits. (2) Prime Video standalone, $8.99/month, video only. (3) Ad-free upgrade, an extra $2.99/month added to either plan. On top of those, individual Prime Video Channels (Paramount+, Starz, etc.) are sold separately at varying prices.

Your options in most major markets: full Amazon Prime (with shipping and all perks), Prime Video-only (cheaper, no other perks), and the ad-free add-on. In select markets like the Philippines and India, there's also a mobile-only plan at a discounted rate. Layered on top of any of these, you can add individual Prime Video Channels for extra monthly fees.

Amazon does not make this easy to find, which is by design. To see every active Channel subscription, go to Amazon.com → Account & Lists → Memberships & Subscriptions → Prime Video Channels. You may be surprised what's in there. Amazon has faced criticism for making Channel sign-ups too frictionless and cancellations too buried; check that page before your next billing cycle.

"Prime Video Ultra" is not an officially branded Amazon product tier as of the time of writing. It's possible you've seen it referenced in a third-party listing, a regional promotion, or a rumored future tier. Amazon's current official tiers are the standard Prime Video plan and the ad-free upgrade. If this has been announced since, check Amazon's own subscription page for the authoritative details, Amazon has a habit of rolling out new tier names quietly.

Prime Video Mobile Edition is a discounted, mobile-only subscription plan that Amazon has offered in specific markets, most notably India and select Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines. It limits streaming to one mobile device at a time (no TV or desktop), at a significantly lower price than the standard plan. It's Amazon's strategy for price-sensitive, smartphone-first markets where desktop streaming is less common.