In brief: With all the layoffs and introduction of ads to its video streaming service, one could easily imagine that Amazon Prime user numbers might have fallen in the US recently, but the reality is that they’ve never been higher. The service hit a record 180 million customers in the United States last month, marking an 8% increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
The latest Amazon Prime numbers come from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), which has been tracking memberships since 2014. The report notes that growth slowed down in the US before Covid after years of impressive figures. It remained flat in the post-pandemic period before picking up over the last 12 months.
The estimated 180 million customers that had Prime subscriptions in March was around 13 million more than in March 2023. CIRP estimates its numbers based on individual Amazon customers who use Prime, which is higher than the number of US households that pay for a Prime subscription.
Also on the rise is the percentage of Amazon customers with Prime memberships, now estimated at 75%. That’s a high point for Prime membership among customers, which stood at 70% two years ago.
News that Prime customer numbers have reached an all-time high might come as a surprise. Amazon introduced ads to its Prime Video service on January 29. Removing them adds an extra $2.99 per month to a subscription, though you’ll also get Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos surround support back – Amazon quietly dropped these features for those who refuse to pay the extra money, without informing customers.
While some people said they planned on canceling their Prime subscriptions as a result of the ads being introduced, the shopping and shipping perks always made it likely that the losses wouldn’t be significant. Reaching a record-high wasn’t expected, admittedly. CIRP writes that the increase suggests US consumers believe “their Amazon shopping habit justifies the investment in Prime membership.” Maybe people were signing up in preparation for Fallout’s arrival?
It’s all good news for Amazon, which has cut tens of thousands of jobs since the start of 2023. It recently announced that it would be dropping the “Just Walk Out” technology from its grocery stores in favor of the cheaper and more accurate Dash Carts.
