It’s official – advertising is coming to Amazon’s Prime Video service with the megacorporation announcing a January 29th date it will start adding “limited advertisements” to its movies and TV show streaming service.
In an e-mail sent out to subscribers, they say the move “will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.”
They also claim they will have “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers”. However, one way this is different to others of its ilk – this isn’t a new lower cost ‘with ads’ tier being introduced with the current tier remaining unchanged.
Rather, the ads are coming to the single current tier available, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year in the United States. If you want to keep enjoying the service ad-free as it is now – it will cost an additional $2.99 per month, bringing the price up to just shy of $18 a month.
Amazon’s Freevee, its free ad-sponsored streaming service, is unaffected by the change. The move comes as competing streamers continue to raise subscription rates across the board.
How this will work internationally in countries like Australia for example, where Prime Video is cheaper but a more conventional standalone service (no free shipping), is not clear at present.
Source: The Verge
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
