In an unexpected development, Apple and Amazon have struck a deal that will integrate the Apple TV+ streaming service into Amazon’s Prime Video channels.
With this agreement, Apple TV+ will be added to a lineup of streaming services such as Max, Paramount+, AMC+, and Starz, allowing Prime Video subscribers to access it as a subscription add-on.
Apple TV+ will be available for $9.99 per month, and like other Prime Video add-ons, users can view all content within the Prime Video app. The addition of Apple TV+ is set to occur later this month.
“Our companies do a lot of business together, and I want to thank Eddie Cue, who I know isn’t here tonight, but he and his team have done a great job with this deal, and we’re excited to get it going,” Hopkins said regarding the collaboration.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, stated, “We want to make Apple TV+ and its award-winning library of series and films from the world’s greatest storytellers available to as many viewers as possible.
We’re thrilled that Prime Video will now offer Apple TV+, giving viewers an incredible breadth of viewing options.”
The rationale behind Apple TV+ forming this partnership with Prime Video lies in scalability.
As Cue highlighted and Hopkins pointed out, Amazon possesses significant scale—evident in its NFL Thursday Night Football viewership—while Apple TV+ remains a relatively smaller player in the streaming market.
Hopkins noted that Prime Video boasts “hundreds of millions” of users.
“I think having this engagement around the world with Prime members accessing Prime Video is a real great platform for other partners to reach them easily.
It’s a one-stop shop with easy navigation and one-click subscriptions, all within one app,” Hopkins explained. “And I think that’s what’s attracting partners.”
Apple TV+ features popular series like Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, The Morning Show, and Severance, in addition to films like Wolves.
It also serves as the global streaming home for Major League Soccer.
While Prime Video has previously entered into similar agreements with other streaming services, this move marks a notable shift in strategy for Apple, which has positioned Apple TV+ as a central element of its Apple One bundle, alongside services like Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Arcade.
During the Screentime conversation, Hopkins also addressed various topics, including the future of the James Bond franchise, which Amazon shares with the Broccoli family.
When asked about upcoming Bond films, he remarked, “We’re working on those too. We’ll see. I wish I could announce something there, but we’re not ready to.”
Regarding the management of the intellectual property (IP) acquired through MGM, Hopkins emphasized the importance of a careful approach: “I think it’s really important that when you have the kinds of IP that exists at MGM, and other places, you have to handle reimagining that IP with care.
Consumers aren’t necessarily looking for a simple remake of something. So if you’re going to do things, we think you have to approach it with a different angle, a different take, and it has to resonate with audiences.”
He further likened Prime Video to a “broadcast network on steroids” in terms of its expansive content offerings.
“We’re Amazon, and we want to cater to a wide audience. This means covering a lot of ground, since we have, as I mentioned, hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide using our app, each with different tastes,” he said. “
To succeed in a business like this, you can’t be overly narrow; you need to be broad.”
