Breaking: Prime Video to Begin Showing Ads; Set to Launch More Expensive Ad-Free Tier
Breaking: Prime Video to Begin Showing Ads; Set to Launch More Expensive Ad-Free Tier
Despite Amazon’s unique business model, which is much different than most companies that own streaming services, Prime Video is following the lead of nearly every other subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service and will begin incorporating ads into its service early next year. Customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada will be the first to see ads pop up in movies and TV series, with other countries seeing the change later in the year.
However, according to Deadline, Amazon is planning to do things a little differently than its competitors. Instead of offering a cheaper ad-supported tier, the service will be introducing the commercials into the current plans while making an ad-free tier a more expensive option. To upgrade to the ad-free experience will reportedly require an additional $2.99 per month.
Amazon told Deadline that the ad load will be “limited” and that the platform aims to “have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.” Of course, this will not be the first time that Prime Video has introduced commercials into its programming. Since the launch of “Thursday Night Football” on the service last year, Amazon has been selling and serving ads. This next step in that direction is reportedly designed to allow continued and increasing investment in content.
Currently, a subscription to Prime Video costs $8.99 as a standalone service or $14.99 as part of the Amazon Prime bundle that includes free shipping on retail orders. Prime also offers an annual plan for $139 along with plans for students and people on qualified government assistance programs. The Deadline report did not indicate how Amazon would address annual customers who want to maintain an ad-free viewing experience.
Amazon already has an ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service with Freevee. The company also owns the interactive, livestreaming service Twitch which also includes advertising. But, by bringing its flagship streamer into the ad side of the business, this means that Apple TV+ is the only major streaming service not to have an ad-supported tier; although rumors of that eventuality have been around for nearly a year.
Reports of Amazon’s interest in introducing an ad-supported Prime Video came last fall when the company began hiring executives with experience in the space. Then in June, the Wall Street Journal reported that the move was imminent. Because the company’s video business is secondary to its retail delivery operations, some onlookers had hoped that Amazon would keep Prime Video ad-free, but as the entire streaming industry moves toward a hybrid model of both ad-free and ad-supported options, it was an inevitability.
While many people initially turned to streaming in part to avoid commercials, as the industry has continued to raise prices far beyond what the original value proposition for streaming was, the audience has become far more receptive to accepting ads than they were a decade ago.
Prime Video
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 Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.