Amazon has now sold more than 150 million Fire TV devices worldwide since its launch in 2014. Over 200 million Prime members worldwide streamed shows and movies in 2021. Amazon continues to invest in its Prime membership services but is increasing its monthly fee in the United States from $12.99 to $14.99. Announcing annual results, Amazon reported that it has increased its total worldwide sales by 22% to nearly $470 billion, with net income up 57% to $21.3 billion. That prompted the biggest ever daily gain in market value for a company in the United States, up $191 billion in a day, with a total market capitalisation of about $1.6 trillion.
Taking a leaf out of the Netflix playbook, Amazon is continuing to invest in original productions for its Prime Video service, tripling the number of Amazon Originals since 2018.
Amazon reported that The Wheel of Time, which cost a reported $10 million per episode, ranked top of the Nielsen rankings of streaming series the week of its premiere, with customers viewing more than 1 billion minutes of the series across its first three episodes.
In September, Prime Video will release the first episodes of the highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, likely to be the most expensive series ever made. Prime Video will also become the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football as part of an 11-year agreement with the National Football League.
In the United Kingdom, the Manchester United football game against Arsenal in December became the most-watched Premier League match so far on the service, with an estimated viewership of more than 4 million.
Amazon is also introducing new connected experiences across many car brands through agreements with Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, and Ram. It will deliver software for the STLA SmartCockpit platform in millions of vehicles over the next decade.
Amazon Web Services recorded sales of $62 billion, up 37% from $45 billion the previous year, with operating income up to $18.5 billion from $13.5 billion.
Business in North America continues to make up 60% of total Amazon sales, worth nearly $280 billion. The international segment made an operating loss of $924 million on sales of $127 billion.
Amazon recorded $31.7 billion in subscription services over the year and $31.2 billion in advertising.