Amazon Prime Video Brand Strength vs. Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Max

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Category Advantage measures the drivers of brand strength by capturing both mental availability (likelihood a brand comes to mind) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with a brand) among all competitors. Schedule a private briefing on this research. .

The bottom line up front  

Amazon Prime Video’s advantage is ambient availability, not emotional pull. After controlling for brand size, Prime overperforms in library depth (+7), social spillover discovery (+6), and sports-adjacent moments — especially for watching the NFL (+6). It underperforms where streaming becomes a comfort ritual: settling, binge commitment, and background viewing. Prime does not win because people choose it. Prime wins because people remember they already have it.

Amazon Prime’s Role in the Category Today

• Prime Video functions as the category’s included service. It is mentally retrieved when viewers think: “What do I already have?” “Isn’t this included with Prime?” “There’s probably something there.”
• Prime is rarely the service viewers are emotionally drawn to—but it is one of the hardest to drop. Its bundled economics and pre-installed presence make it structurally sticky even when it is not behaviorally preferred.

Where Amazon Prime Wins Mentally

1. Accessing a deep library of content

Prime shows strong Mental Advantage (+7) on accessing a deep library of content—leading all competitors (Netflix +5, Hulu +4, Max +3). This is Prime’s clearest win. 

Why this matters: Prime is mentally coded as expansive and abundant, even if individual titles are not top-of-mind. Library depth is a high-utility cue in a fragmented category.

 2. Social discovery spillover

Prime over-indexes on finding content friends have recommended (+6)—behind Netflix (+12) but ahead of Max (+5) and Hulu (+4).

Interpretation: Prime benefits from cultural exhaust. Netflix creates buzz; Prime captures it later. Prime doesn’t need to start conversations—it needs to be remembered as a place where buzzed-about content might exist. 

3. Live NFL football

Prime shows positive Mental Advantage (+6) on watching live NFL football—a rare positive in a category where entertainment-focused services deeply underperform on sports. Netflix (−15), Hulu (−7), and Max (−8) all show strong negatives.

Why this matters: Thursday Night Football gives Prime episodic, high-salience refresh moments that reinforce relevance beyond entertainment browsing. Sports creates spikes that remind viewers Prime exists.

Amazon Prime Mental Advantage: Utility Wins, Comfort Gaps

Where Prime Participates—But Does Not Differentiate

Prime is neutral on watching new and exciting movies and shows, finding something entertaining to watch, unwinding after a long day, and weekend binge-watching marathons.

Implication: People use Prime this way—but do not prefer it this way. These are table stakes, not strategic edges.

Where Amazon Prime Is Structurally Weak

1. Settling and comfort moments

Prime underperforms on streaming as background while doing chores (−2), binge-led commitment (0 to weak), and emotional settling moments.

2. Kids and family viewing

Prime underperforms on entertaining the kids (−6)—far behind Disney+’s dominant +45.

3). News and utility TV

Prime underperforms on catching morning news shows (−7) and cable-replacement logic. Despite its breadth, Prime is not mentally coded as “TV-like.”

Why Prime Is Sticky but Shallow

• Prime’s advantage is structural, not experiential. It is bundled, pre-installed, and already paid for. This makes Prime resilient to churn—but also limits depth of engagement growth.
• Prime is hard to remove, but easy to deprioritize in daily viewing. Viewers keep it without thinking about it—but also ignore it without thinking about it.

Why This Matters Now

• As subscription fatigue rises, bundled services are protected. Prime’s economics—tied to shipping, shopping, and broader Amazon membership—insulate it from the cancellation calculus that affects standalone streamers.
• But protection ≠ growth. Prime’s opportunity is not emotional loyalty; it is mental recall across adjacent moments. NFL, library depth, and cultural spillover are the levers—not competing for comfort or ritual.

Five strategic implications for streaming services

1. Defend abundance and inclusion as the core asset. Prime should feel expansive, not curated. Library depth (+7) is its clearest mental win—protect and reinforce it.

2. Exploit sports and cultural spillover. NFL and buzz moments should refresh Prime’s mental presence, not redefine its identity. Event spikes remind viewers Prime exists.

3. Avoid competing on comfort or binge rituals. That territory belongs to Netflix and Hulu. Attempting to win on “unwinding” or “settling” would require repositioning Prime’s entire mental identity. 

4. Lean into “already included” unapologetically. Prime’s biggest advantage is that no decision is required. Messaging should reinforce “you already have this” rather than compete for active preference.

Core insight: Amazon Prime Video wins when viewers remember what they already have access to—not when they’re deciding what they want to watch. That is a structurally defensible position, but growth requires expanding mental recall, not building emotional attachment.

About this research

Morning Consult conducts over 30,000 daily proprietary surveys in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands and 50 economic indicators. 

Our category advantage research is aimed at understanding the needs driving consumers in your category — and how your brand can own more of them. This research is built on validated principles of brand-driven growth and powered by Morning Consult’s industry-leading sampling technology.

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