Read a New User’s First Impressions of Amazon’s Streamer Prime Video
Read a New User’s First Impressions of Amazon’s Streamer Prime Video
If you’re mulling a subscription to Prime Video, check out my initial thoughts about the streaming service here.
There are more than enough live TV streaming services out there to cause some confusion as to which you should spend your money on. On-demand streaming services make the choice even more difficult, with vastly more choices available and each streamer boasting its own unique lineup of original content. I took a dive back into Prime Video — full disclosure, I’m a past subscriber who is returning to the service — to let you know my impressions of the streamer and help you decide if it’s right for you!
What Do You Need to Know About Prime Video Before Subscribing?
Tons of Content
Prime Video doesn’t just offer a mountain of on-demand entertainment. It comes with a huge selection of supplementary programming, including hundreds of free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels in its “Live TV” section, and sports like the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.”
Fans can also stream boxing and other combat sports, WNBA games like the Commissioner’s Cup championship, National Women’s Soccer League matches, and other events. Even more sports are coming to Prime Video when the NBA debuts there next year.
Superior Free Trial
One of the most apparent and immediate benefits of a Prime Video account is the free trial viewers get access to. Customers can sign up for Prime Video by itself, but if they decide to try it as part of the total Amazon Prime experience they get a 30-day free trial.
That allows users to not only browse and watch Prime Video for a full month, but also to have access to all the other benefits of Prime free, including two-day shipping, a free GrubHub+ membership, and much more.
The Prime Video library is vast, and it will take some time to get your teeth into it and find the right shows and movies for you. Fortunately, you’ll have a great opportunity with Prime Video’s free trial.
How’s the User Interface?
One aspect of Prime Video that I’ve never particularly cared for is the fact that I have to go through the Amazon homepage to get there. Obviously, this is intended to make me stop and consider whether or not I want to buy something, and I don’t particularly appreciate having to try to pick out the relatively small “Prime Video” menu tab near the top of the screen.
Once I’m inside the Prime Video interface, however, the layout is more or less what I’ve come to expect from other streaming services. The “Continue Watching” row is conspicuously placed at the top, and scrolling down will bring recommendations based on your watch history, rows packed with Amazon originals, etc.
Prime Video also makes it easy to sort by live sports, its selection of free streaming channels, movies, and TV shows. Calling up the Live TV tab brings up a grid-style display resembling that found on cable, and shows all the live, free channels viewers can stream on Prime Video in that given moment. The whole thing feels a bit like a pay-TV package, with the hundreds of free streaming channels, live sports, and on-demand options Prime Video comes with.
One option I found especially helpful is the Prime tab, which helps filter out all the content you have to pay extra to watch even with a Prime Video subscription. Amazon hosts a robust digital video and rental store, and it’s always a bummer to click on a show or movie thinking it’s included in your Prime Video subscription, only to find out that you have to pay extra to watch it. The Prime tab helps with that issue.
Once playback begins, Amazon is the home of the original “X-Ray” feature. This allows viewers to read trivia about the show and its stars, see more of what those stars appear in, etc. It’s a great way to go more in-depth with your favorite TV shows and movies.
Want Another Subscription?
Another big benefit of Prime Video is its “Subscriptions” hub, which was once named Prime Video Channels. This digital store lets you sign up for a wide range of other on-demand streaming services, with popular platforms like Apple TV+, Max, Paramount+, and others available.
This is incredibly convenient not only because Prime Video often gives deals on these streamers that customers who try to sign up directly through their respective websites don’t get, but also because using Prime Video’s Subscriptions tab will allow you to keep all those streaming bills in a single place.
How is the Ad Experience on Prime Video?
I mostly opt for ad-free streaming subscriptions, but with Prime Video, I kept the ads included on this try. There was a big part of me that dreaded it; the reason I got so fed up and decided to pay more a few years ago to stream ad-free was that the ad experience on Hulu was absolutely maddening, with repetitive commercials and long breaks.
I’m happy to report that Prime Video wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I saw one pre-roll group of ads and had one ad break during playback, less than four minutes of commercials during an hour-long program. I did see some of the same commercials, but I saw them so infrequently overall that it wasn’t an awful experience in any way.
Is Prime Video Too Big?
Prime Video has a huge library, larger than many other streaming services even without the movies and shows that are only available with an additional purchase. This can lead to viewers being offered only a select amount of content in recommended title rows; I feel like I barely see a sliver of what’s really available with a Prime Video subscription because of this, and might be missing some things I’d really like because they’re buried too deeply on the service.
Final Thoughts
I’ve come and gone from Prime Video before, but there’s never been a compelling reason that has made me fed up with the service. I just ran out of titles I wanted to watch or thought another streaming subscription would be better at that moment.
Prime Video has a big library, an intuitive user interface, and a wide range of fringe benefits if you’re an Amazon Prime customer. It provides much more of an all-in-one experience than other streaming services do, and at $9 per month for ad-supported streaming (standalone subscription) it’s a good way to get a wide range of content without paying live TV streaming prices.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.