Amazon Prime Video internal numbers key insights about how the service has performed and its future

Video has grown to be one of Amazon’s biggest expenditures at $5 billion per year for original and licensed content. Amazon.com Inc’s top television shows drew more than 5 million people worldwide to its Prime shopping club by early 2017, according to company documents, revealing for the first time how the retailer’s bet on original video is paying off. The documents also show that Amazon’s US audience for all video programming on Prime, including films and TV shows it licenses from other companies, was about 26 million customers. Video has grown to be one of Amazon’s biggest expenditures at $5 billion per year for original and licensed content, two people familiar with the matter said. The documents seen by Reuters reflect Prime subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Japan, where Amazon’s programs were available before Prime Video rolled out globally in December 2016.