Amazon Prime Video Adds Short-Form News Clips, TikTok-Style
Remember when watching the news meant sitting through an entire broadcast? Prime Video would like to offer us something much shorter.
Amazon has added quick, on-demand news clips covering national and local stories, giving us another way to catch up without committing to an entire hour.
And we don't even need a Prime membership to watch them.
Prime Video Adds Short-Form News Clips to the App
Amazon announced their new Prime Video news clips feature for U.S. customers on September 14th. According to the powerhouse, they’ve curated playlists of short-form clips covering local and national stories.
Each playlist curates reports from multiple news sources, so we can get caught up on a developing story without hunting around for individual videos. It's basically the news for those moments when we have five minutes, not thirty.
The News Was Already There
Prime Video has quietly become home to quite a bit of news programming. Its dedicated News section already includes coverage from hundreds of free streaming services like:
ABC News Live
CBS News 24/7
LiveNOW from Fox
CNN Headlines
NBC News NOW
The difference is that those options mainly focus on live coverage and longer programs. News Clips chops things down into smaller, on-demand pieces.
Here's How to Find the New Clips
If you're wondering how to watch news clips on Prime Video, there's one catch for now. The feature is only available through the Prime Video app on TVs and other living-room devices. Amazon says mobile and web access are next.
On the dedicated News page, you can scroll down until you find the Trending Topics or Local News carousel. That's where the new Prime Video Trending Topics and Local News playlists live. No channel surfing required.
Is Prime Video Turning Into TikTok?
Not exactly. But, the Amazon Prime Video TikTok-style news strategy certainly sounds familiar.
Short-form content is how younger audiences prefer to get their news, especially on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. That makes Gen Z an obvious audience for Amazon to chase, although the company hasn't specifically said the new feature was created for them.
Still, there's an important difference between the two. Amazon hasn't confirmed whether its mobile News Clips will be in vertical-video format like TikTok. For now, "short-form" is the important part.
Prime Video Has Been Getting Shorter for a While
News isn't Amazon's first experiment with bite-sized video. Earlier this year, Prime Video expanded a separate feature called Clips. The scrollable mobile feed started with NBA highlights before expanding into moments from movies and TV shows.
The Prime Video Clips feature of 2026 gave us something to scroll when we had a few spare minutes or weren't sure what we wanted to watch.
Now, the news is getting its own short-form treatment.
Short-Form Video Is Coming for Our Streaming Apps
Amazon isn't alone here. Peacock introduced short-form clips earlier this year, followed by HBO Max and Netflix. Disney+ joined the party in August.
Streaming services seem to have noticed something social media figured out years ago: sometimes, we don't have time for the full story. Prime Video's new News Clips are built for exactly those moments.
Whether they can convince Gen Z to leave TikTok long enough to watch them is another question entirely.
Looking for stories that inform and engage? From breaking headlines to fresh perspectives, WaveNewsToday has more to explore. Ride the wave of what’s next.