Prime Video is India's top streaming choice: Mike Hopkins

Mumbai: India is one of the fastest-growing and largest markets for Prime Video, Amazon’s video streaming service. Outside the US, for the last several years, more people have signed up for Prime in India than anywhere else in the world, said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video, and Amazon MGM Studios.

Hopkins, who is in India for the flagship event—Prime Video Presents India—shared insights on the company's ambitious expansion strategy with filmmaker Karan Johar.

“For the last several years we've been making a lot of progress in India,” he said. A majority of Indian users sign up for Amazon's Prime membership not for any other benefit but for the Prime Video services. "So, more people in the world are signing up for Prime in India outside of the US, and Prime Video is the number one reason they sign up in India.”

Last year, India had the highest percentage of Prime members streaming Prime Video than any other country, he said. “The Indian team is doing a great job, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be here.”

In any given week in 2023, Indian content was watched in over 210 countries and territories worldwide on Prime Video, he added. “So that's a lot of places watching Indian content. The second thing is that Indian programming trended in the top 10 on Prime Video worldwide for 43 out of the 52 weeks of 2023.” 

Expressing his excitement about his visit to Mumbai, Hopkins said: “I’ve been to Mumbai half a dozen times in my career, and what I'm always impressed by is the energy in India."

Hopkins, who joined the company four years ago, highlighted Prime Video's pivotal role in Amazon's unique entertainment business model. “When you think of Prime, you think of shopping and shipping, you think of music and gaming. And we have a reading service and a variety of benefits with that Prime membership, but of course, we have Prime Video as well. Customers can find their favourite movies and series all under one roof with Prime Video, whether you're getting entertainment from Amazon, MGM Studios, our local partnerships, or things we've licensed around the world. We really start with Prime as our base.”

Discussing the challenges of content distribution in the streaming era, Hopkins acknowledged the complexities, but reiterated Prime Video’s commitment to providing a seamless experience for customers worldwide.

“Over the last few years, as content has been moving to streaming, it's getting more complicated. People aren't always sure exactly where to go to get that movie, that TV series, or even that sport, depending on where they are in the world. And so, one of the things we've spent a lot of time thinking about is how we can put all of that together in one place for customers.” 

But, it has not been an easy job, he said. “We haven't yet succeeded everywhere in the world in putting all their streaming content into one application. What I mean by that is, we've approached streamers all over the world to join Prime Video; so that you can subscribe to them inside our application, but we have made a lot of progress."

Prime Video has also built the world's largest TVOD (transactional video on demand) store, so more people rent and buy movies on Prime Video than any other store in the world. For non-subscribers, there is a lot of AVOD (ad-supported video-on-demand) content.

In India, the company launched its AVOD service MiniTV, available on Prime Video, as well as on Amazon’s retail site. “Speaking of Mini TV, our business is doing really well, growing four times in overall watch time since 2023.”

On Amazon's global expansion plans, Hopkins emphasized the importance of India, a key market with a burgeoning streaming audience. He praised India's rich storytelling tradition and expressed confidence in Amazon's ability to resonate with the Indian audiences.

"As we look at the next 250 million subscribers that we're going to acquire, they are definitely going to come from outside of the United States," he said. “We're not going to be able to achieve that unless we do a really good job for customers in India as well… India is a key geographic area for us. We also believe in the story of India and the growth that's been happening here over the last several years.”

Hopkins also unveiled Prime Video’s diverse lineup of upcoming projects, including highly-anticipated series and films catering to global and local audiences. He teased the premiere of ‘Fallout’, a series based on the iconic video game, and announced plans for an ambitious news show from ‘Mr. Beast’, aiming to create the largest game show in history.

While global content is important, he said it’s important to get the local programming right. “We make local programming in many countries around the world, but 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. And so that's where we start: how can we still tell authentic stories with creators in the country that resonate with customers in India? If we can do that, and it can work outside of the country. We've really knocked it out of the park.”

Shows that are working best for Prime Video, both in India and internationally, are Farzi, Indian Police Force, Poacher, The Family Man, and Made in Heaven, among others, he said. “We couldn't be more thrilled with what's going on here, and so do our customers around the globe.”