Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service is on fire in the United States — and that growth happened before Amazon even introduced its $99 Fire TV set-top box.
According to a new report from online-video delivery and caching solutions provider Qwilt, streams on Prime Instant Video have almost tripled over the past year — and in the process have passed both Apple and Hulu in terms of volume of video streaming traffic. The data was gathered from MSO broadband providers that use the Qwilt systems.
Currently Amazon stands in third place — with only Netflix and YouTube producing more total online video traffic in the U.S.
What does this all mean for Apple? Well, most importantly it cements that they have another major rival on their hands when it comes to streaming video.
Amazon Instant Video arrived on iPad in August 2012, before expanding to other iOS devices that December. Along the way the service has added a number of exclusive popular shows, such as psychological thriller Hannibal and legal drama Suits.
Amazon also officially unveiled its Fire TV box last week, offering voice-powered search and full support for games.
As we wrote in our recent comparison between Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku:
“It’s hard to recommend an Apple TV at this point — even if you are an iOS user — because the latest model is well over a year old now, and rumor has it a new one is right around the corner.”
Your move, Apple.
Source: Qwilt
