India has highest percentage of Prime members who stream Prime Video in the world: Mike Hopkins

Delhi: In any given week in 2023, Indian content was watched in over 210 countries and territories worldwide on Prime Video, said Mike Hopkins, Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, in a freewheeling chat with Karan Johar at Prime Video Presents event in Mumbai on March 19, 2024.

On top of it, he also shared that the Indian programming trended in the top 10 on Prime Video worldwide for 43 out of the 52 weeks of 2023.

Further talking about the India growth story for Prime Video, he said that India has the highest percentage of Prime members who stream Prime Video than any other country in the world. “For the last several years outside of the US, more people have signed up for Prime in India than anywhere else in the world. And Prime Video is the number one reason they sign up in India,” commented Hopkins. 

Hopkins further said that Prime Video’s Mini TV business has grown four times in overall watch time since 2023.

With the growing complexity in finding content of choice across streaming platforms, Hopkins said on the stage that Prime Video is working towards bringing all streaming content under one application. 

He said, “We've approached streamers all over the world to join Prime Video; you can subscribe to them inside of our application. We've also built the world's largest TVOD store, so more people rent and buy movies on Prime Video than any other store in the world. We also offer an array of AVOD content where you can watch TV and films without a subscription. We have Mini TV, which is available on Prime Video and on our retail site.” 

As an aggregator, Prime Video already has channels such as Discovery+, Lionsgate Play, Docubay, Eros Now, MUBI, Hoichoi, Manorama Max, and Shorts TV and a few more on its platform. 

Having said that, Hopkins emphasised on the relevance of telling authentic stories. He said, “The core tenet for us is that if it doesn't work in the country you're making it, you probably shouldn't be making it.” 

Moving ahead in the conversation, Hopkins shared that shows like Farzi, Indian Police Force, Poacher, The Family Man, Made in Heaven, and likes resonate with the audience worldwide.

Prime Video boasts of having over 200 million Prime members around the world in 240 countries. 

At the Prime Video Presents event, the platform announced a slate of over 70 shows and films coming over the next couple of years.

Throwing some light on the global content slate, Hopkins said, “We've got the second season of The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power, coming this year. We've got another season of The Boys coming. We're super excited about Citadel Honey Bunny, which is a local franchise. Citadel is our global multi country franchise, and we're doing another one in Italy as well.” 

Prime Video has also announced the launch of a new show from Mr. Beast with 1,000 contestants vying for a $5 million prize. “Mr. Beast is aiming to create the largest game show in the history of the world,” said Hopkins.