What you need to know
- Amazon announces Prime Video will begin showing ads in shows, movies, and live sports in early 2024 across all plans.
- Consumers can dodge this by chucking up an extra $2.99 on top of their Prime Video or Amazon Prime subscription.
- The U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada will receive the ads in 2024, with France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia receiving them later in the year.
Amazon just announced an interesting change that may not make many of its Prime subscribers happy.
In a blog post about Prime Video, Amazon states it will include "limited advertisements" during shows, movies, and live sports starting in early 2024. The company adds, "We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers."
Amazon will introduce ads in Prime Video to consumers currently subscribed to the service but will allow users to pay more if they want to remove the ads.
According to Amazon, subscribers will be able to purchase a new "ad-free" option for an extra $2.99 on top of their current subscription plan. This will be the price those in the U.S. will experience once this happens in the aforementioned time frame.
Joining the U.S. in receiving ads in Prime Video are the U.K., Germany, and Canada. Other countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia will have their turn later in 2024. Pricing for those areas will be revealed closer to when the rollout will happen most likely.
Consumers only interested in Prime Video already pay an $8.99 subscription, and if you're bundling Amazon Prime with that, the price boosts to $14.99.
It is an interesting move that Amazon is planning on conducting for Prime Video, considering its competitors, Netflix and Max, have opted for cheaper ad-supported plans on top of their ad-free plans. The former rolled out its ad tier last year in November at a price a couple of bucks cheaper than Amazon's basic Prime Video plan. However, that plan comes with its own set of limitations, like its highest quality sitting at 720p and some missing content.
This also isn't the first time Prime customers have seen subscription changes in recent months. The company recently announced that it was increasing the Prime Music Unlimited subscription price, which already isn't included with the regular Prime membership (although the membership provides Unlimited subscribers with a slight discount).
