Streaming wars: Netflix has most subscribers, but Prime Video leads revenue with $10.48 billion in Q1

In an age captivated by entertainment and endlessly online, whoever rules video streaming arguably rules the world.

The crown for this had always gone to Netflix, the pioneer of streaming, even since before its meteoric rise during the pandemic era.

But since the goldmine of entertainment platforms has been uncovered since then, competition has been fierce and who is winning is no longer clear in 2024.

So, who is number one?

Amazon steals the crown?

There are two ways to determine which streaming giant comes out on top: in terms of market share (especially the number of subscribers they have), and the amount of profit they generate.

In terms of market share, a Statista article in July 2023 by Julia Stoll, suggested that Amazon Prime had overtaken Netflix as the number one streaming service in the US in terms of market share.¹

But is that still the case? In terms of subscribers, data here is murky – for example, Apple has not released official Apple TV + subscriber numbers since 2022.

Luckily, we do have some useful, recent facts and figures in the form of financial results in the past month’s earnings season.

Amazon vs Netflix: who has the most viewers?

Netflix reported that it had 269.6 million global subscribers at the end of March 2024, as reported in its April Q1 2024 earnings. Furthermore, in its letter to shareholders at their latest earnings, Netflix said that “almost 270 million households across 190+ countries now subscribe to Netflix.”Amazon Prime Video, meanwhile, does not disclose subscriber numbers, but mentioned in a CEO’s letter to shareholders that it had had “over 200 million” subscribers as of April.² Moreover, Amazon’s earnings revealed that it had lost 2% of their subscriber base in the past quarter.³

So, then, has Netflix snatched back the crown since July 2023 from Amazon Prime Video?

Revenue wars

Not so fast. There is still the matter of who is mightier in terms of profit, which implies a lot for companies’ future sustainability and growth prospects.

In the same Amazon earnings, its net sales show that its subscription services alone brought in $10.48 billion in Q1 of 2024. ³

This is significantly higher than Netflix’s latest earnings, which brought in $9.37 billion in its entire net income for the same quarter.⁴

For now, it seems that Netflix has more subscribers, but that Amazon Prime Video rules in terms of revenue – and will likely only do so more now that they have initiated streaming adverts on their platform. 

Who wins?

So, who won? Harsh Vardhan, Editor in Chief at Invezz, comments that:

In the battle for streaming supremacy, it’s clear that while Netflix may hold a slight edge in subscriber numbers, Amazon Prime Video’s dominance in revenue generation cannot be overlooked. This financial muscle not only underscores Amazon’s robust growth strategy but also highlights its potential to innovate and expand its content offerings more aggressively. As the landscape continues to evolve, the true victor will be the one who can most effectively balance subscriber growth with sustainable profitability.”

Sources:

¹ Statista, 2024; ² Amazon, 2024, ³ Amazon, 2024; ⁴ Netflix, 2024