New Amazon report shows creative industries impact on Canada and beyond

Amazon has published its first-ever report outlining the impact of its various entertainment divisions on global markets.

The company debuted the International Culture & Creative Industries report at a media event in Berlin, and MobileSyrup was in attendance. Notably, Amazon presented data on the impact of creative industries in a variety of countries and regions outside of the U.S., including parts of Europe, the U.K., Mexico, India and, most relevant for us, Canada.

Here’s a breakdown of the findings per Amazon division.

Prime Video

The world premiere of Maxton Hall Season 2 in Berlin.

First off, the company touted its popular streaming service, Prime Video. Given that we were in Germany, it placed a big focus on Maxton Hall, a locally-made teen romance drama whose debut last year was the biggest-ever for any non-American Amazon Original series. It was also the number one show in more than 120 countries upon its release. (Amazon also took us to the Season 2 world premiere later that night, and I saw firsthand the size and excitement of this fanbase.)

To contextualize all of that, Amazon also showed data from a survey conducted on behalf of Germany’s local tourism board. When polling global streaming service users, the survey found that respondents who watched “Made in Germany” titles said they were 2.2 times more likely to buy German products, 2.1 times more likely to want to visit Germany and 1.5 times more likely to find German culture appealing. The survey even demonstrated increased interest from respondents as far away as Japan and Australia.

Results of a “Made in Germany” survey that shows the reach and impact of local productions like Maxton Hall.

While we didn’t get a similar survey for Canada (understandably, given that this was a German-based event), there were still some other interesting findings for the Great White North. In particular, Amazon used its hit comedy series Upload as a main example for us. After all, the sci-fi comedy series, which just aired its fourth and final season in August, was filmed in Vancouver and stars Toronto’s Robbie Amell (The Flash).

For Upload Season 2 alone, which was filmed between January and April 2021, Amazon says it employed a crew of around 1,500 people, 95 per cent of which were Canadian. On top of that, more than 70 per cent of the cast was Canadian (though it should be noted that most of the stars, outside of Amell, were American), while over 600 local businesses were involved in the production. The report also highlighted key B.C. filming locations like Vancouver’s Stanley Park Pavilion, Cecil Green Park House and the University of British Columbia, as well as Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park.

In total, Amazon says more than 40 Prime Video titles are produced in Canada. Some of these are American shows that have been shot in Canada, like The Boys and its Gen V spin-off (Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area), Reacher (various parts of Ontario) and The Man in the High Castle (Vancouver), while others are wholly Canadian productions, like the All or Nothing Toronto Maple Leafs documentary, the Alfred Molina-led mystery series Three Pines and LOL: Last One Laughing Canada. Overall, Amazon says Ontario, B.C., Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia are its key Canadian filming locations.

Amazon specifically highlighted the Vancouver-made Upload at the event.

It’s unclear exactly how any of its shows might have driven international interest in Canada, like how Maxton Hall does for Germany. But in any event, it’s interesting to see how something like Upload can have an impact beyond simply Canadians getting a kick out of seeing recognizable places in their favourite shows. (It’ll never not be amusing how iconic Toronto music venue Roy Thomson Hall is the villainous Vought HQ in The Boys.)

Of course, it should also be noted how Amazon benefits a lot from all of this as well. Besides getting lucrative tax credits for filming in places like Toronto and Vancouver, the company, like other foreign streamers, has a requirement to produce a minimum amount of content in Canada. Still, it’s nice to see the results of these kinds of “CanCon” rules.

Books and podcasts

I must sadly confess that while I used to be a pretty consistent reader, I spend much more of my non-gaming time watching movies instead. And while I do listen to quite a few podcasts, they’re through Apple. Therefore, I’m pretty new to the world of Amazon’s books and podcasts, and it was pretty interesting to learn more about it.

First, I didn’t even know that Amazon’s Kindle e-book service has Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), a self-publishing tool that’s particularly handy for up-and-coming authors. According to the creative industries report, hundreds of thousands of authors from outside the U.S. have published their work through the platform, “thousands” of which are Canadian, like best-seller Shannon Mayer (Rylee Adamson) from Southwestern Canada. Meanwhile, the countries where Canadian authors’ work reaches the most are the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan and Mexico.

Authors Marcus Hünnebeck (one from the left), Jupiter Phaeton (middle), Chiara Assi (one from the right) and Sophie Saint Rose (right).

The company also highlighted its Audible audiobook service, which has both audiobooks and podcasts. In terms of Canada, Amazon spotlighted Audible original Mistletoe Murders, which was written by Winnipeg-born Ken Cuperus and features Canadian talent like Vancouver’s Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Toronto’s Raymond Ablack (Ginny & Georgia) and Vancouver’s Anna Cathcart (To All The Boys series).

And finally, Amazon touted Audible Indigenous Writers’ Circle, a six-month mentorship program for emerging First Nations, Inuit and Métis authors in Canada. The program started in 2022, helping dozens of writers along the way. While the writers for this year’s circle have already been chosen, you can find out more information on the program from Amazon’s website.

Beyond the report findings, the event also featured a roundtable between four successful European authors, France’s Jupiter Phaeton (published over 60 books), Germany’s Marcus Hünnebeck (published dozens of books after pivoting from economics, Spain’s Sophie Saint Rose (published 200-plus) and Italy’s Chiara Assi (turned travel blog into book series).

Amazon Music

Canadian Amazon Music listeners really like Michael Bublé.

This is another service I haven’t used and was therefore not really knowledgeable about. That’s where the report came in.

For one, Amazon says its Music service has connected 2.8 million artists with fans around the world, half of which are listened to in Canada. In total, 100 million tracks and millions of podcast episodes are featured on Amazon Music in Canada on top of 400-plus partnerships with music labels.

But perhaps the most intriguing data were the most streamed local artists in Canada:

Michael Bublé (number one)
Josh Ross
The Weeknd
Justin Bieber
Drake
Shawn Mendes
Céline Dion
The Tragically Hip
The Recklaws
Les Cowboys Frignants

Overall, Amazon says Canadian artists have the biggest reach in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan and Mexico. (In case you missed it, this is the same top 5 for Canadian authors. While it’s perhaps not surprising to see the U.S., U.K. and Mexico in there, given our close ties to those countries, it’s especially interesting to see Germany and Japan there.)

Video games

The report also had a short section on games. This is particularly noteworthy for Canada since the company’s Amazon Games division only has two non-U.S. studios: one in Bucharest, Romania, and the other in Montreal, Que. It makes sense that Amazon would have a studio in Canada, given our massive $5.1 billion gaming industry. Of that, Quebec is by far the leader; in fact, Montreal alone is one of the top video game development hubs in the entire world.

Notably, Amazon opened its Montreal studio in 2021 and hired former Ubisoft Montreal devs who worked on Rainbow Six: Siege, one of the most popular multiplayer games in the world. Now, in this report, Amazon confirms that 99 percent of the 100-plus Montreal team is local talent. In March, the team revealed what it’s been working on: March of Giants, a free-to-play multiplayer online battle area (MOBA) that’s currently in alpha testing.

Misc.

While not directly tied to the creative industries report, Amazon did also present a new UNESCO paper called “Digital Culture for All by 2035” at the event. Organized during UNESCO’s Mondiacult 2025 event a few weeks ago, the paper provides recommendations for companies like Amazon and its peers on how to approach digital media. Notably, the rapporteur of UNESCO’s global expert panel, Véronique Guèvremont, is a professional of international law at Quebec’s Laval University. (One last neat Canadian connection for this feature.)

In summary, the UNESCO paper proposed the following core tenets:

inclusive access (allowing people of all backgrounds to take part)
linguistic diversity (ensuring multilingualism)
discoverability (systems to promote a wide range of cultural expressions)
education (systems to nurture digital skills, curiosity and creativity)
mobility and identity (consideration for creators from diverse diasporas and those in remote areas)
green culture (eco-friendly behaviour)
balancing “physical” and “digital” (considering seamless movement between offline and online environments)
role of states (governments providing thoughtful and meaningful support)
governance and diversity of actors (public, private and community-based people working together towards common goals)

The paper also recognizes growing concerns surrounding AI, specifically when it comes to “cultural deepfakes, the erosion of human creativity and skills, unfair distribution of income and dependency on a limited number of large language models (LLMs).” At the same time, it acknowledges that “AI lowers barriers to creation and production and opens new creative possibilities.” Therefore, the paper calls for a measured approach to AI.

It remains to be seen what will come out of this in the next 10 years, but it’s good to see these conversations happening for now.

Header image credit: Amazon