Amazon’s Prime Video app becomes the most-downloaded Apple TV app at launch

Apple and Amazon’s decision to bury the hatchet, leading to the return of the Apple TV on Amazon, and the launch of Amazon’s Prime Video app on Apple TV has proved beneficial to both companies. The Amazon Prime Video app has now become the most-downloaded app on Apple TV at launch, TechCrunch has confirmed.

Update: Correction – the app had the most first-week downloads of any app in the history of tvOS, but not the most to date.

Achieving this milestone is fairly notable, given that Amazon Prime Video only arrived on Apple TV in early December. That indicates there was a lot of pent-up demand from Amazon Prime members for this app.

The news was first reported by the site BestAppleTV.com, and we’ve since confirmed its accuracy with sources close to the company.

The two companies had been fierce rivals for years, which hurt both of their respective customer bases. But that changed this summer. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced Apple’s plan to allow Amazon’s app on Apple TV at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June, noting that the app would go live before year-end.

According to Apple TV App Store data provided by Sensor Tower, the Amazon Prime Video app has ranked number one in the free apps chart since its launch, and remains in the top position now in the U.S. and all other regions where it’s available.

In addition, App Annie reports that the Amazon Prime Video app saw its largest week in terms of iOS downloads ever – another signal related to the Apple TV launch. While the firm isn’t yet able to provide tvOS download estimates, the bump in downloads likely correlates to the Apple TV debut. That is, as people add the app to their TV where they do much of their viewing, they may add it to their mobile devices, as well, in order to continue watching shows and movies where they left off.

“Globally, Amazon Prime Video saw its largest week of iOS downloads ever during the week of December 3rd through 9th, 2017 seeing well over 550,000 iOS downloads,” App Annie told TechCrunch. This represents a 45 percent increase in global weekly downloads, compared the average of the four weeks prior, it said.

“Following a large global release on tvOS on December 6th, 2017, Amazon Prime Video has also seen a strong spike in downloads of its iPhone and iPad app. This was driven both by releases in new markets like the U.K. and Germany and upticks in markets where it is already well established like the U.S.,” the firm added.

Amazon historically has played tough with rivals, banning devices like Apple TV, Chromecast, Google Home, and others from its online store in order to boost sales of its own hardware. The retailer recently has been feuding with Google, too, leading to Google pulling its YouTube player from Echo Show and Fire TV.

But things are changing quickly – the Chromecast, along with Apple TV, were spotted earlier this month on Amazon, indicating a positive shift in discussions between Google and Amazon, as well as the final step in Apple and Amazon’s deal.