Prime Video’s expansion across Europe has helped drive home entertainment revenues up by 22% to £3.5 billion ($4.5 billion), new company filings show.
Records filed last week with the U.K.’s company registrar Companies House by the online retailer’s home entertainment arm, Amazon Digital U.K., show that for the year ending December 2022, revenue increased by over £633 million compared to the previous year. In 2021, the company posted revenues of £2.86 billion.
The U.K.-registered company, which is a subsidiary of Amazon’s ultimate Seattle-based parent company Amazon Inc, primarily provides film, music and entertainment services across the U.K. and Europe. Its primary sources of income come from subscriptions, digital sales and rentals as well as providing marketing support services to other Amazon companies (the latter accounts for £1.3 billion of its revenue.)
According to the general business review, which was filed alongside the company’s accounts at Companies House in London, the increase in revenue was “driven by the expansion of Prime Video services across Europe and the provision of digital music services.”
Following an increase in marketing expenses and cost of sales (which, due to “increased volume and cost of digital content,” went up by 19% to £2.7 billion) the company posted a profit of £55 million ($70 million).
As mentioned in the report, Amazon has invested heavily in the U.K.’s audiovisual industry, which the company calculates has exceeded £1 billion. As well as taking out a long lease at Pinewood Studios, it has also moved production of its mega-bucks “Lord of the Rings” prequel “The Rings of Power” from New Zealand to the U.K.
The report also noted that Amazon had “ceased the sale of digital products in certain geographies” although it didn’t specify which territories or what the financial impact has been. Last March, following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, Amazon suspended commercial activities in Russia, including the provision of Amazon Prime.
