Amazon Prime Shifts Focus, Cuts Staff and Content Production in Africa and the Middle East

Amazon Prime, the global streaming giant, is laying off staff and scaling back its local content production in Africa and the Middle East, according to a new report by Variety.

The streaming platform, the third largest in Africa, is restructuring its business model to focus on its European market. Barry Furlong, the vice president of Prime’s EMEA division, told staff in an email that the decision was made to focus “on the areas that drive the highest impact and long-term success.” It’s unclear how many employees will be affected.

Approved shows like “Ebuka Turns Up Africa” will still be rolled out as Amazon Prime will still be present in Africa, but the platform will stop approving local shows in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.

Africa’s streaming market is projected to have at least 18 million paying streaming customers by 2029, up from 8 million customers last year. With a combined 75% of the streaming market, Netflix and Showmax are the market leaders. Despite this growth, streaming penetration remains low, as most of these customers are in South Africa and Nigeria. By 2029, only 7.7% of African households would be paying for at least one of these platforms.

Amazon Prime was estimated to have 575,000 sub-Saharan customers in 2021, which was projected to reach 1.9 million in 2026.