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UPDATE 12/26: In an email to customers, Amazon says it will begin rolling out ads to Prime Video on Jan. 29.
Original Story:
Amazon Prime Video is the latest video-streaming service to embrace ads.
But unlike its rivals, Amazon is not introducing a lower-priced, ad-based tier. Instead, it's just adding commercials to the existing Prime Video and will charge you an extra $2.99 per month if you want to get rid of ads completely.
Currently, you can get Prime Video as part of a Prime membership, which is $139 per year or $14.99 per month, or as a standalone subscription at $8.99 per month.
Presumbly, that extra $2.99 would be added to the $8.99 plan. Amazon didn't address people who get Prime Video via an annual Prime subscription, except to say it's "not making changes in 2024 to the current price of Prime membership," so it's not clear if they'll have an option to ditch ads.
Why ads? Amazon offered up a familiar refrain: They will allow it to "continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time."
Amazon paid an estimated $715 million for the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which debuted last year to mixed reviews. A second season is expected next year.
The ads will start appearing in early 2024 in the US, the UK, Germany, and Canada. The company is promising it’ll display fewer ads than traditional TV broadcasts and other ad-based streaming plans. Still, the news is bound to annoy Prime Video subscribers, who’ve long enjoyed an ad-free experience.
The company plans on expanding the ads to other markets later in 2024, including France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia.
“No action is required for Prime members,” the company added. Live event content such as sports will continue to include ads, Amazon says.
The company plans on emailing Prime members “several weeks” before the ads appear with details on how to sign up for the ad-free subscription.
This comes after Netflix added a "Basic with ads" tier for $6.99 per month, which has proven to be a popular choice among those begrudgingly signing up for a paid plan amid a password-sharing crackdown. Disney+ and Max have added similar plans in the last few years.