This week, millions of Prime subscribers received an email from Amazon informing them of an impending update to the streaming service that will give users two choices: pay more or see advertisements.
According to an email from Amazon, “limited” commercials will begin to appear on Prime Video on January 29. Customers will have to pay an additional $2.99 a month to avoid ads. The modification was initially disclosed by Amazon in September.
Amazon wrote in an email to Prime members this week, “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.” “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
In making the shift, Amazon is by no means alone. As with the majority of other streaming services, Prime Video is increasing the cost of its ad-free tiers and introducing advertisements into its content.
In October, Netflix announced that the premium ad-free plan in the US would go up to $22.99 a month, an increase of $3. In the US, its one-stream basic subscription went up to $11.99. The pricing of each of the other plans, including the entry-level, $6.99/month ad-supported tier, stayed the same.
For the second time in less than a year, Disney+ raised rates in August. As a result, the monthly fee of its ad-free plan climbed by $3 to $13.99 in October. Disney controls the majority of Hulu. Hulu will also increase the price of its monthly ad-free subscription by $3 to $17.99.
When Amazon initially made the announcement back in September, it clarified that the shift would enable it to keep producing successful shows like “Thursday Night Football.” The amount spent on Amazon’s content, which includes its own series, increased to $16.6 billion in 2022—a roughly 30% increase.
The duration of the commercial breaks was not disclosed by the corporation. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Citadel” can be found on Prime Video, which is included of the $139 annual Prime membership.
Rather than pursuing users, streaming services are under pressure from investors to generate revenue from the services, even if it means losing users. They are raising monthly fees or selling advertisements as a result.