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Amazon Channels — Amazon’s streaming video on-demand (SVOD) service aggregator — could contribute more than half of all SVOD sign-ups, according to new research by The Diffusion Group (TDG) per Multichannel. The sign-up rate is even higher for premium-cable TV apps: Amazon Channels accounts for 53% of HBO streaming sign-ups, 72% of Showtime OTT, and 70% of Starz OTT sign-ups. That compares to 47% of sign-ups directly through HBO’s app, 26% directly through Showtime, and 30% directly through Starz.

While participating in the Channels program helps drive subscriber uptake among DTC services, Amazon ultimately wins on two key advantages. First, Amazon takes a cut of the monthly subscription fees charged by each participating service. In addition to charging $119 per member per year, Amazon could drive significant additive revenues by taking a percentage share of participating services' fees on a per-subscriber-per-month basis.

Amazon's percentage cut varies per partner, but notably, those revenues are almost purely additive, with high margins because it's being delivered over Amazon's own video interface (the infrastructure already exists) and the company isn't taking on customer service or other costs. Amazon Channels now offers more than 150 “channels” (individual SVOD services that Prime members can subscribe to on an a la carte basis) in the US, up from just 30 in December 2015 when it launched as “Amazon Streaming Partners,” later rebranded as Amazon Channels.

The second advantage is that Amazon owns and manages the customer relationship on behalf of streaming partners. While the content partners handle video hosting, streaming, and customer support, the more valuable relationship is directly through its platform. That direct access to the viewer/consumer further enriches the platform's huge stores of one-to-one data. Even as viewers engage with other media from other media brands, they are still locked into Amazon's interface (which is also conveniently a global e-commerce platform).