Amazon’s streaming business has quietly become a giant in its own right. On the company’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy told investors that Prime Video is profitable “in its own right” and generates revenue at an annualised run rate in the “tens of billions of dollars” — a scale disclosure that goes well beyond what the company shared in May, when Jassy first said the service had turned profitable.
The update came alongside mixed Q3 results: Amazon reported $201.9 billion in net sales (up 12%) and profit of $20.7 billion, or $1.89 per share — missing Wall Street estimates — while ad revenue hit $19.6 billion, up 12%. Content spending for Prime Video grew 7% in the quarter to $5.9 billion.
Prime Video Profitability Driven by Hits and Sports
Jassy credited a broad slate for the momentum. Series hits included Carrie, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Boys, Off Campus, Reacher and Fallout — with Reacher season 4 drawing 66 million viewers worldwide in its first 28 days. The film side was led by Project Hail Mary, the Ryan Gosling-led adaptation that became Amazon MGM Studios’ highest-grossing release, helping the studio top $1.2 billion in global box office so far this year alongside Verity.
Live sports have become an increasingly central pillar. Thursday Night Football is off to its best start ever in 2026, averaging 17.7 million viewers across its first six games (up 16%, per Nielsen), while the second season of NBA on Prime drew over 2 million viewers. The portfolio also includes NASCAR, The Masters and UEFA Champions League soccer.
Four Years After the MGM Bet
The disclosure arrives four years after Amazon closed its $8.5 billion MGM acquisition, a deal that now visibly underpins the streaming unit’s economics. Amazon does not break out Prime Video as a separate reporting segment — its ad tier reaches over 315 million monthly active users globally — but Jassy’s “tens of billions” framing marks the first time the company has publicly quantified the service’s scale. Investors will be watching whether that momentum can offset the company’s massive AI infrastructure spending, which crimped free cash flow this quarter.
Image credits: Variety
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
