Amazon Prime Video ads launch on January 29 for all subscribers
In September 2023, Amazon revealed that it would soon make its service more pleasant by introducing video ads to the platform. Unlike Netflix or Disney+, which added a new cheaper ad-powered plan, Amazon decided to introduce ads to all subscribers of Amazon Prime Video.
Prime subscribers who don't want videos need to pay more each month to avoid them or stop using the service altogether.
Amazon is sending out emails to Prime subscribers currently that informs them about the change. The email includes the start date, which is January 29th, 2024. It is unclear at this point whether this change will roll out in select regions only at the time or globally. If not globally, there is a good chance that ads will be introduced in all regions eventually.
The company explains in the email that the ads allow it to "continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time".
Amazon claims that the ads will be "meaningfully fewer" than on linear TV and also other streaming TV providers. The ad infusion is automatic and begins at the end of January 2024 for all Prime Video viewers.
Amazon Prime customers who don't want to see ads when they watch content on Amazon Prime Video may pay Amazon an extra $2.99 per month to avoid those. Some content, especially live event content, will continue to include advertisement.
Amazon's Freevee service, which is available free of charge, will also continue to show advertisement, even to users who pay the extra $2.99 per month.
In the United States, Amazon Prime costs $14.99 per month currently or $139 if paid annually. There is also an option to only subscribe to Prime Video for $8.99.
The subscription price varies from region to region Amazon Prime is offered in. In Germany, for instance, Amazon Prime is available for €8.99 per month. While that is considerably less than the $14.99 in the United States, German subscribers do not get all of the same benefits as subscribers from the United States.
A sign-up page for the ad-free option is already online. Note that this page can only be opened from a location in the United States at the time of writing.
The introduction of advertisement is an industry-wide trend. Most streaming services have introduced ad-powered plans that are cheaper than ad-free plans. It will be interesting to see how Amazon's decision to introduce ads to all regular plans will work out for the company.
Will subscribers pay the extra €2.99 to stay ad-free, endure the ads while watching content, watch less content on Prime Video or even cancel their subscription?
Now You: are you an Amazon Prime subscriber? What is your take on the introduction of ads?
I don’t think Amazon is fixing the problem which is the expense producing exclusive content, and the expense of broadcasting the NFL Thursday games. They have also confused their video site with many third party content providers some require additional subscriptions as well. I can already say I will probably watch even less of Prime video in 2024 with these changes in place.
What a completely surprising turn of events… I mean never in a million years had anyone seen this coming…
[INSERT SHOCKED PIKACHU FACE HERE]
Ahh, the other reason I will not use any of these subscription streaming services. The big one I was thinking about the other day while riding home and listening to all the mp3 files in my pocket, was that “it sure is great how the price doesn’t go up monthly while the catalog inversely shrinks.” No songs get removed unless I personally decide that I do not want them anymore. And I can listen to them as much as I want, anywhere. No traveling to another region and half of them becoming blocked.
My question is whether they will first fix the incompatibility their ads have with their sub-titles. As a user who depends on sub-titles, it is very disconcerting when they inject a 20 second ad at the beginning of a video (“Reacher! Second Season!” or some other show) and the subtitles are then shifted by exactly the length of the injected ad, with no way of re-syncing them. They have known about this problem for some time now and have done nothing to fix it. Their FreeVee service has never, as far as I can tell, had sub-titles that sync properly. Frankly, it is a blatant violation of the ADA, but they obviously don’t care about that at all. So will the new ads makes the sub-titles even more useless? Or will they finally address this issue and fix a very necessary part of their service?
@David–Noticed the same problem a couple of months ago. The only solution I found was to use the Prime Video app download from the MS Store. Not sure if it would work with ads. These were simple, ad-free Prime shows. Quite the frustration at the price charged.
When I did the math, I found my wallet better off going with Netflix full subscription and Walmart shopping. Amazon dropped two-day shipping about one year ago. Now it takes a week to receive goods. Walmart is definitely two-day, almost same day.
Some substantial product price differences, however, delayed the plan.
Better content–Netflix.
I don’t bother with Amazon Music or books.
Dropping Amazon, major life change :-)
“…In September 2023, Amazon revealed that it would soon make its service more pleasant by introducing video ads to the platform.”
That lede. :)
They just didn’t specify for whom exactly it would become more pleasant.
“…ads will be “meaningfully fewer” than on linear TV and also other streaming TV providers.” This will only be a temporary thing until viewers adjust to the commercial bombardment. At that point, the number of commercial in each commercial break and the number of breaks will start creeping upward.
I guess Bezos isn’t making enough money and needs more advertising stream revenue.
I have Prime. I don’t use Prime Video.
They do everything right – if people continue to pay and do not refuse the service en masse, then it is necessary to milk them more.
as a socialist guy I prefer torrent
It’s just straight up price gouging. They’ll loose subscribers (so less cost of running prime) and increase revenue. Scumbags.
Venture capitalism at its finest. An evil company.
I remember when Cable TV first came out. It was the same story, bait and switch.
They keep doing it because people are too apathetic to stop them.
Here in Canada, when they went completely digital, many areas lost TV altogether because they did not have cable service and they could no longer use their antenna. The government quietly stepped in and gave the people in unserviced areas satellite dishes.
“The government quietly stepped in and gave the people in unserviced areas satellite dishes.”
Very good. Then they even got a better solution with better video quality and sound than they had from the antenna. What year was it? Do you have a link to more info?
That would be apathy too.
All you need is a little box between the antenna and your old analog TV.
In the US you could get one for free ahead of the change over if you knew about it. Obviously they didn’t spend much on the advertising campaign for that program.
Antennas do still work here and in Canada and modern TV’s can play the digital signal with no adapter.
All of their TV series and movies, even with Prime, I always pirated. Its much better than using their crappy web player or apps.
if buying things doesn’t mean you own them, then pirating doesn’t mean you steal them
A Steam like service is not answer. they helped make buying games more accessible but at the same time publishers have been using a clause that gives customers no legal rights to ownership and injecting abusive code for legitimate buyers. Now they’re trying to get rid of physical media. Streaming, paying monthly is the default. Piracy is the last stop to “own” digital media.
That a best definition of modern economy I seen in a while.