Season 4 of ‘The Boys’ Will Feature Ads for the First Time; How to Upgrade and Ditch Commercials
Season 4 of ‘The Boys’ Will Feature Ads for the First Time; How to Upgrade and Ditch Commercials
Showrunner Eric Kripke says he suggested spots for ad breaks in the show’s fourth season, but there’s no guarantee Amazon followed his advice.
In a move that Billy Butcher would surely label diabolical, Amazon followed a unique strategy for the rollout of the ad-supported plan on its flagship streaming service Prime Video earlier this year. That new subscription tier became available in January, but unlike most other streamers who have launched ads in recent years, Prime Video decided to make it the default option and compel viewers who wanted to go ad-free to pay $2.99 per month extra to upgrade. That means that the new season of “The Boys” — which debuts on Thursday, June 13 — will be accompanied by ads for the first time in the show’s history. However, I’ll show you how to leave them behind if you want to watch the show the way you always have before, without commercial interruptions.
Key Details:
- Prime Video has one of the largest libraries of any streamer, making ad-free streaming a better value on the service.
- “The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke took the extra step of suggesting where Amazon could logically put ad breaks in the new season.
- Upgrading to ad-free Prime Video is incredibly simple, and costs just $3 per month extra.
Prime Video offers a more compelling reason than most streaming services to upgrade to an ad-free plan: the sheer volume of content available. With more than 11,000 different movies and 2,000 TV shows available, the number of titles available to stream ad-free on the service is markedly higher than Max, Disney+, or Hulu when you upgrade.
“The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke spoke out about the addition of commercials to Prime Video with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the release of the show’s fourth season this Thursday. This is the first time that the show has premiered a new season after the introduction of ads, and Kripke indicated that Amazon had asked for his input on where to put ad breaks in the show, though of course, there’s no guarantee that the company followed his guidance.
“Do I love that there are commercials airing during my show?” Kripke asked with a laugh. “I left The CW to get away from that. But I understand that it’s part of the search to be profitable, and we’ve been able to pitch them where we want the spots to go.”
How to Go Ad-Free on Prime Video
The good news is that Prime Video makes it incredibly simple to go ad-free if you’re already using an ad-supported plan. A few short button clicks will take you where you want to go in that regard, and I’ll walk you through the process step by step.
The first thing that you’ll have to do is ensure that you are signed into your Prime Video account. Once that’s done, just head to the Prime Video home screen, and you’ll see the option to go ad-free on the right-hand side of the menu across the top of the screen.
Prime Video’s “Go ad free” button is circled in the top right corner.
The next screen you’ll see has all the details of your payment information. If you want to charge a different card to upgrade to ad-free Prime Video for an extra $2.99 per month, this is the screen to do it on. Once you’ve got your payment details finalized, click the “Go ad free” button.
Transitioning from ad-supported Prime Video to add-free takes just a few clicks.
You’ll be taken to one more confirmation screen, where you’ll see payment details and the contact information associated with your account. This is your last chance to make any necessary revisions, so look it over carefully, then scroll down and click “Start Your Subscription.” Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to stream “The Boys” Season 4 and any other Prime Video on-demand content completely ad-free!
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.