Amazon Prime Video won't be ad-free in 2024 without an additional charge

Posted:
in General Discussion edited September 2023

Amazon Prime Video will include "limited" advertising during shows and movies starting in early 2024, requiring customers to pay an additional fee to remove the ads.




Amazon says the move will allow the company "to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time." The announcement goes on to say that the company aims to have "meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers."

If customers do not want to see advertisements, they will need to pay $2.99 per month to remove the advertisements as part of a new "ad-free option."

The company has not given an exact date for the change, but Amazon says it will alert Prime members several weeks before the ads are introduced. It will also provide instructions on how to sign up for the ad-free option.



In June, the FTC said that Amazon had enrolled millions of customers into the paid subscription service without their consent. When customers attempted to cancel Prime, they faced a multi-step process designed to be deliberately difficult.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    Shocked.   SHOCKED I say!
    tmaydewmechasmNoGodsNoMastersJaiOh81watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 16
    Amazon is free to choose to price its services at any level it wants. I defend Apple's services the same way (e.g., Apple is free to charge 0% to 15% to 30% for some software on its store.) Neither company is a monopoly.
    rezwitsJaiOh81watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 16
    Not surprised. Today's streaming services are very cheap for the amount of quality content that's available. I used to be solely Netflix, but tried out Crave and Prime Video and was amazed at all the great content I had been missing out on!

    I'm just annoyed by how TV+ displays previews of other shows at the beginning of its own shows, same as Prime Video. Sure, it is definitely effective at surfacing content that may not have otherwise been discovered, but I choose those services specifically for the content that I choose, not to have content pushed onto me.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 16
    I could care less, I don’t watch Prime video anyway 
    williamlondoneightzeroNoGodsNoMastersravnorodomwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 16
    I think they should have Prime memberships without the video —I only use Prime for shipping upgrade and Whole Foods discounts.  Just make video a separate add-on option.
    eightzerowilliamlondonStrangeDaysrezwitsralphiespliff monkeystevenozhcrefugeewatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 16
    Not surprised. Today's streaming services are very cheap for the amount of quality content that's available. I used to be solely Netflix, but tried out Crave and Prime Video and was amazed at all the great content I had been missing out on!

    I'm just annoyed by how TV+ displays previews of other shows at the beginning of its own shows, same as Prime Video. Sure, it is definitely effective at surfacing content that may not have otherwise been discovered, but I choose those services specifically for the content that I choose, not to have content pushed onto me.
    There's an on-screen button on AppleTV that lets you skip those.
    williamlondonNoGodsNoMastersJaiOh81spliff monkeyronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 16
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,772member
    jfabula1 said:
    I could care less, I don’t watch Prime video anyway 
    Do you mean you couldn’t care less?
    eightzerobaconstangdewmeNoGodsNoMastersJaiOh81spliff monkeyscartartstevenozkdupuis77ronn
  • Reply 8 of 16
    Better idea: offer the service at a given price...and if the viewer doesn't press "skip" on the ads, and they display, they get a $2.99/mo rebate. Even better: allow the user to indicate the kinds of ads they want to see, and offer competitive rates for each category for the advertisers. Targeted ads worth more, right? 

    Eh. Privacy scmivacy. Who would allow themselves to be tracked? 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 16
    I’m going to miss watching the one reasonable show on Prime every 18 months

    The UHD stream quality seems garbage compared with AppleTV+ and Disney+. I won’t miss not watching the service at all. It’s just frustrating that it cannot be unbundled from the delivery service

    This is just a stealth price increase for profit. The “ increase investment in content” will take 2-3 years to manifest by which time I will be outraged at something else

    StrangeDaysrezwitswatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 16
    So now I'll be paying a premium to watch ads? (Prime was originally $80/year, but jacked up to $140. So in my mind, I'm already paying a premium for this video over the old just-two-day-shipping Prime) Yeah nah. Their junk status isn't worth paying anything more for, and instead I'll just not watch whatever low-rent offerings they have. 
    williamlondonspliff monkeybaconstangkdupuis77ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 16
    The Prime stuff that has no ads currently is there own productions and a handful of movies.    FreeVee is Amazon subchannel that has a big choice of movies and TV and it all has ads and I don't care they show fewer ads than over the air channels.  Someone said Amazon runs previews of there shows before some of there shows, but I found if you hit fast forward when the preview starts and it skips it.  I'm really happy with Amazon Prime video only gripe is they do run new movies for a rental fee and the price for those can get crazy for a rental, but some new movies that didn't do well in the theater will popup on Amazon for just a couple dollars and some are even free.    So to me Amazon's video is a great perk of Amazon Prime.     I haven't watched over the air TV in years since I started Amazon Prime. 
    JaiOh81watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 16
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,598member
    I’m sure there is content on Prime Video that I might enjoy, but the steady jacking of the price of Prime, and now an add-on fee if you don’t want the video service to get shittier would make it among the most expensive streaming services I would even remotely consider.

    That said I periodically sign up for one month of Prime — in late November — and so I’d happily kick in another three bucks to sample a few shows on Prime Video during that month, ad-free. But over $175 per year ($140 — assuming it doesn’t go up again, which it certainly will, plus $3x12) for Prime (including Prime Video ad-free)?

    Hard pass.
    NoGodsNoMasterskdupuis77ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 16
    After years of being a Prime subscriber, I found myself ordering less and less from Amazon due to increasing prices and shipping times. I never liked Prime Video. I canceled earlier this year and haven't missed it at all.
    kdupuis77ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 16
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,455member
    A tolerable alternative would be accepting even slower deliveries in lieu of the no ad fee, given that the guaranteed two day delivery during Amazon's formative era doesn't exist today.

    Prime is awful for finding viewable content, in my opinion, so I now consider Prime just a $3.00 to $4.00 weekly shipping subscription, and not much more.
    williamlondonkdupuis77ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 16
    Ya know, ever since Prime used to be $79 a year they send that same tired email, every flipping year, explaining how they justify increasing the cost of my Prime renwal by extolling the tremendous value that is Prime Video! We rarely ever watch anything on our "most expensive" streaming service (Prime video) that happens to include "free" 7-10 business day shipping (but yes of course, 2 day handling time prior to shipping if you read the terms and conditions sir!). Like f*ck gonna be paying Jeff Bezos any more money... At this rate, if I give them more hard-earned money, they'll be forced to slow my shipping times down again lo.
    ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 16
    I gave up Netflix for price gouging and worsening content. I think I can do the same for Prime.
    watto_cobratmay
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