The estimated reading time for this post is 2 minutes
Amazon announced yesterday that it’s expanding its Prime Video service into over 200 countries. Members of Amazon Prime in Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy and Spain now have Prime video included with their membership benefits.
Those who don’t have Amazon Prime in their countries, or who aren’t members of Amazon Prime, can sign up for memberships in Prime Video at primevideo.com.
Membership in Prime Video is offered free for a 7-day trial. After that, members will pay $2.99 or €2.99 per month for the first six months. After that, members will be charged $5.99 or €5.99 per month.
With Amazon Prime Video you can watch movies and TV shows as well as Prime Video original series, including Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, Man in the High Castle and The Grand Tour. Prime Video original series are available in English, with French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles.
How to Watch Prime Videos
You can watch Prime Videos on Amazon Fire TV, Android and iOS phones and tablets, Fire Tablets and popular LG and Samsung smart TVs. Prime Videos are also available to watch online at primevideo.com.
Prime Video apps are available free for Android devices and iPhone/iPad, though you must have a Prime Video or Amazon Prime membership to watch videos using the app.
Prime Videos are also available for download to your mobile devices. For more information, see Amazon Prime Now Has Free Downloads for Movies and TV Shows!
Amazon vs. Netflix
Amazon seems to be interested in competing directly with Netflix, who expanded its coverage to 190 countries earlier this year. See, Netflix Expands to 190 Countries Around the World.
Netflix also recently announced its members can download videos using its mobile apps, which Prime Video has allowed for over a year. See, Netflix Now Allows You to Download Videos.
Amazon also appears to be competing with Netflix on price. After introductory pricing ends, Prime Video will be charging $5.99/€5.99 while Netflix charges $7.99, or its equivalent in local currency.
But neither is a bargain if you can’t find videos you want to watch. Use free trials to sample the selection and see whether you want to subscribe. But if you are a Prime member then you don’t have to choose because Prime Videos is one of the benefits of membership.
Countries and Pricing
A full list of countries and pricing can be found in Amazon’s official press release about the expansion of Prime Video into over 200 countries. This list also includes the places where Prime Video is included as a benefit with Prime membership.
(China is not included as one of the countries covered by either Prime Video or Netflix.)
Your Thoughts
Will Prime Video be coming to your country? Will you be giving Prime Video a try? If you already have Prime Video, which shows do you recommend?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Voice of America Learning English
If you’d like to read about tech while learning English, check out my personal technology column at Voice of America Learning English. This week’s article is: Technology to Bring Out the Christmas Spirit.
Hi Carolyn,
This is good news.
Personally, I am not a fan of either music or video so this service will not be directly affecting me. Thanks for the smart update though – I’ll be tweeting in a moment so that my interested followers can help themselves if the need arises.
Be sure to make the day great!
Always,
Akaahan Terungwa
Hello Terungwa, Good point, not everyone is into watching videos. But for those who do and live in one of these countries new to Prime Video, this is good news.
So glad to see you here, as always, Terungwa. Thank you for your comment and shares!
It’s amazing how TV is evolving…people aren’t really even watching DVDs any more with all the great choices for streaming etc. Can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in 10 more years….keep up the good work!
Hi Michael, Yes, streaming video is very handy and video you can download is even handier. There are now fewer reasons to use DVD’s now that Amazon has videos you can stream and download in over 200 countries.
hello carolyn
your article Amazon Prime Video Expands to Over 200 Countries.
has helped me very much…great..thank you…
Hi Pavan, I’m so glad you found this article to be helpful to you. Thanks for taking the time to let us know.