Amazon is adding Apple TV Plus to Prime Video, a move that could help bolster the iPhone maker’s languishing streaming service. Apple TV Plus will be available on Prime Video in the US later this month as a $9.99 monthly add-on — the same you’d otherwise pay directly to Apple. The difference now is that Apple TV Plus is being promoted directly to Amazon’s massive video subscriber base.
“What we offer channel partners is hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world,” said Prime Video head Mike Hopkins at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference. “We see a lot more engagement, we’re able to get subscribers for those businesses at a really attractive rate.” Amazon takes a cut of the revenue from streaming subscriptions purchased on its video platform, but the specific terms have not been disclosed.
While Apple TV Plus has been praised for its roster of shows like Severance, Ted Lasso, and Foundation, the service has struggled to gain ground against Prime Video, Netflix, Max, Disney Plus, and Hulu — currently the five most subscribed streaming platforms in the US, respectively. Paramount Plus overtook the service in market share last quarter according to the JustWatch streaming guide, and market research firm Antenna reports that Apple TV Plus has some of the highest subscription cancellation rates among streaming providers.
Having Apple TV Plus available within Prime Video isn’t quite the same as bundled deals like Comcast’s all-in-one Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV Plus offerings, but the goal is the same — to attract more customers and reduce cancellation rates as audiences grow weary of managing an ever-increasing number of subscriptions and apps.
For Amazon, Apple TV Plus joins over 100 streaming service add-ons already available through Prime Video Channels. It’s all part of the company’s plan to become a global “first-stop entertainment hub” according to Hopkins, a goal that Apple once had for Apple TV.