E-commerce leader Amazon.com (AMZN) has signed up more than 16 million subscribers for its Amazon Prime service, according to a new study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
CIRP surveyed 300 U.S. customers of Amazon for a three-month period ending Nov. 15 and determined that 33% are Amazon Prime members. In addition, 5% of customers are Amazon Student members and 2% are Amazon Mom members. The student and mom memberships offer Prime service along with discounts and other benefits.
Amazon Prime costs $79 a year and provides free two-day shipping on millions of products, plus unlimited streaming of 150,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video.
With 16 million subscribers, Amazon Prime Video is emerging as a strong competitor to Netflix (NFLX), which has 31 million U.S. streaming video subscribers. Both services have been bolstering their libraries with studio deals and by producing original shows.
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In November, Amazon premiered two new shows: the political comedy “Alpha House” and Silicon Valley startup comedy “Betas.” Amazon also recently cut exclusive content licensing deals with film studio A24 for movies like “Spring Breakers” and “The Bling Ring,” CBS (CBS) for its series “Under the Dome,” PBS for its series “Downton Abbey” and “Mr. Selfridge,” and Viacom (VIA) for shows from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV.
The biggest benefit to Amazon of its Prime service is that Prime customers spend “considerably more per year than non-Amazon Prime customers,” CIRP partner and co-founder Josh Lowitz said in a statement Sunday. “We estimate that Amazon Prime customers spend approximately $1,340 per year, compared to $708 per year for non-Amazon Prime customers, and account for 56% of U.S. product sales. They do so because Amazon Prime customers buy over 50% more frequently than non-Amazon Prime customers, and buy more expensive items.”
Amazon Prime has grown to about 16.7 million members as of Sept. 30, up from an estimated 9.7 million members at the end of 2012, CIRP reported. And Prime customers are loyal, with 93% of members saying that they will definitely or probably renew their membership, said CIRP partner and co-founder Mike Levin.