Amazon launched its video streaming service in Japan in September. Before that happened, its customers were surveyed about subscription services to video-on-demand. Based on that research, most don’t seem very excited at the prospect.
Amazon itself is popular in Japan: According to JustSystems, 85.3% of internet users in Japan use Amazon for some purpose. Within that group, 17.2% subscribed to Amazon Prime, the online retailer’s extensive loyalty program.
But most Amazon users, whether they subscribe to Prime already or not, do not suscribe to video-on-demand services. Just 6.3% did in September, and another 5.9% had done so in the past. Meanwhile, 38.8% were aware of the services but not interested in using one, and another 27.7% did not know what they were.
Fully half of Amazon users in Japan did not know specifically what Amazon Prime Instant Video is, and another 20.1% were informed enough to know they didn’t want it.
According to CyberAgent research from June 2015, a majority of internet users in Japan ages 39 and younger watch video on desktop or laptop PCs at least once per week. Viewing on smartphones was even more common among the youngest respondents.
