Vikings, Extant lead Amazon UK ‘ratings’

The first seasons of Vikings (pictured) and Extant are the most popular content on Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service in the UK, the e-commerce giant has said.

According to Amazon, Vikings season one is Prime’s most-watched show since February, followed by Extant, Vikings season two, Black Sails season one and The Walking Dead season one.

Amazon is the exclusive SVOD home of each show, as the firm invests heavily in first-run online content. It has also invested heavily in original content although none of its own shows were among the top-ranked.

Meanwhile, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is the service’s most-watched movie, followed by Horrible Bosses, This Means War, The Sitter and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

Amazon, whose video service offers around 15,000 streamed videos in the UK, claims it has increased streams by around 70% since investing in first-run content.

However, as the service does not releasing viewing figures and with no previous number to work from, the number of people watching Prime content is impossible to quantify.

“Unfortunately Amazon Prime Instant Video doesn’t disclose viewing figures. There’s nothing their competitors would like to know more,” said an Amazon spokeswoman.