Whereas different media corporations have been paring again content material spending, Amazon shelled out greater than $2 billion extra in 2023 for TV reveals, motion pictures and music than it did a yr earlier.

Amazon’s complete video and music expense final yr was $18.9 billion, representing a 14% enhance from $16.6 billion in 2022, in keeping with the corporate’s 10-Ok annual report filed Friday. The figures embody licensing and manufacturing prices related to content material provided in Amazon Prime memberships, and prices related to digital subscriptions and offered or rented content material. Amazon’s greater outlay for content material got here even amid Hollywood’s twin WGA and SAG-AFTRA protracted strikes final yr that halted most TV and film productions for months.

On Amazon’s This fall earnings name Thursday, CEO Andy Jassy reiterated the corporate’s perception that Prime Video, included as a part of the Prime membership program, is on monitor to be a large — and worthwhile — enterprise in its personal proper.

“We have now rising conviction that Prime Video generally is a giant and worthwhile enterprise by itself, and we’ll proceed to spend money on compelling unique content material for Prime members like ‘Thursday Evening Soccer,’ ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Reacher,’ ‘Mr. & Mr. Smith,’ ‘Citadel’ and extra,” Jassy mentioned.

Jassy added that with the introduction of adverts by default in Prime Video, which launched Jan. 29, “we’ll be capable to proceed investing meaningfully in content material over time.” This week Amazon started operating adverts in Prime Video content material in main markets until customers decide to pay further ($2.99/month within the U.S.) to have an ad-free expertise. Some analysts forecast Prime Video adverts producing greater than $3 billion in incremental income in 2024.

Amazon’s content material funds features a hefty examine to the NFL for unique streaming rights to a package deal of “Thursday Evening Soccer” video games. Underneath the 11-year deal, Amazon is estimated to be paying about $1 billion per yr to the league. On the decision, Jassy touted Prime Video’s second season of “TNF” as “a rousing success by all accounts” and famous that general viewers elevated 24% yr over yr.

The weighted common remaining lifetime of Amazon’s capitalized video content material is 3.5 years, in keeping with the corporate’s 10-Ok. “We evaluation utilization and viewing patterns impacting the amortization of capitalized video content material on an ongoing foundation and mirror any adjustments prospectively,” Amazon mentioned. Produced and licensed video content material is primarily monetized collectively as a unit, known as a movie group, in every main geography the place Amazon Prime memberships can be found. The corporate’s complete capitalized prices of video and music as of Dec. 31, 2023, have been $17.4 billion (versus $16.7 billion the yr prior).

Amazon topped Wall Avenue expectations for the fourth quarter of 2023, reporting advert income of $14.7 billion for the interval — up 27%.

Final month, Amazon laid off lots of of workers throughout Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video, Twitch and Audible. That got here after the tech large had pink-slipped greater than 27,000 staff for the reason that finish of 2022.

Pictured above: Alan Ritchson in Amazon Prime Video‘s motion sequence “Reacher” primarily based on Lee Baby’s guide sequence