• by Alex Weprin , May 18, 2018

When people think of Amazon and streaming video, most think of Amazon Prime Video, the company’s Netflix competitor that features original and acquired TV shows and movies.

However, Amazon Channels has quietly become a power player in the streaming video space, according to data from The Diffusion Group.

Amazon Channels sells subscription video services to consumers—niche channels, like Acorn TV, as well as more mainstream ones like CBS All Access and HBO Now.

According to The Diffusion Group, more than half of HBO’s direct-to-consumer subscribers bought the service through Amazon Channels instead of through HBO’s web platforms, with an even higher number—nearly seven in 10—subscribers of Showtime and Starz buying through the service.

That is a significant percentage of subscribers, especially when considering the relatively high profiles of the channels involved. Amazon keeps a percentage of the subscription revenues garnered through the service.

The findings are consistent with comments made by industry executives at industry events. At Business Insider’s Ignition conference last year, an HBO executive told Digital News Daily that Amazon’s ability to target the right consumers and entice them to subscribe to HBO Now was impressive.

While Amazon largely has the space to itself, there has been speculation that Apple could move more aggressively into the space over time, particularly when it readies to launch its own streaming video programming.

"While Amazon Prime Video continues to receive the lion's share of attention from industry media, Amazon has quietly built a stronghold in the burgeoning direct-to-consumer market," says Michael Greeson, president of The Diffusion Group. "Even with Apple's pending entry into this space, we expect this dominance to expand further in the next five years."