Support NeoGAF

[AJUMP23]

Amazon's Prime Video will show ads unless you pay $3 more per month

Prime Video users will soon see ads on shows and movies unless they pay an extra $2.99 per month on top of their regular Prime subscription.

www.engadget.com

Prime Video users will soon see ads on shows and movies unless they pay an extra $3 per month on top of their regular Prime subscription, Amazon has announced. "Starting in early 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements," the company wrote, noting that pricing for the ad-free tier will be announced for additional countries "at a later date."

The news represents a significant change to Prime Video, which hadn't previously served ads next to movie and TV content as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The streaming service is currently included for free with a Prime or $9 per month if purchased separately, offering third-party content (movies, TV series, etc.) and Amazon Original content produced by Amazon Studios. That includes series like The Boys and The Citadel, along with movies including Air, Manchester by the Sea and The Big Sick.


It didn't say how many ads you'll have to watch, though Variety suggests "limited advertisements" could mean around four minutes per hour. "We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers," the company said. "Ads in Prime Video content will be introduced in the US, UK, Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year. No action is required for Prime members. We’re not making changes in 2024 to the current price of Prime membership."

The news follows a report early this summer that Amazon was planning some kind of ad-supported Prime Video tier. Now, it turns out that's just the regular subscription, with the new tier effectively an add-on.

Amazon justified the decision, saying it will allow it to "continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time." It also cited the "vast selection of movies and series, including Amazon Originals and live sports, along with critically acclaimed series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel". The company recently spent millions to acquire rights to NFL Thursday Night Football and acquired MGM Studios in 2021 for $8.5 billion.

Amazon has already dallied with ads, as it currently shows them next to live sports streaming on Prime. Amazon also offers the FreeVee ad-supported site with over 100 Prime Video original series, available on its Fire TV stick, on other devices and as an app.

Ad-free Prime Video certainly made Amazon's $139 per year ($15 per month) Prime membership compelling. With that now watered down, and Amazon also introducing new fees for same-day deliveries, it will be interesting to see if there's any impact on subscriber numbers.

Pay for it and get commercials. What a business model.

 

[Burning Blade]

Back to the cable service model eh? Going to be interesting to see how this play out.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Maybe they should put some worthwhile content on there before they implement ads. Hulus ads are brutal.

 

[IDKFA]

I'm actually okay with paying extra if this comes to the UK.

Currently I pay £8.99 per month and get access to Prime TV (which includes sports like the odd Rugby, PL matches in December) and free next day delivery on Prime items from Amazon.

I'm already getting fantastic value for money. Even with a few quid extra it'd still be fantastic value.

 

[gaming_again]

Fucks sake. We only have it for Blaze and the Monster Machines.

 

[AJUMP23]

Rings of power brought to you by Amazon Basics.

 

[SJRB]

High time to set sail again, lads!

 

[TheUsual]

High time to set sail again, lads!

People can only be nickel & dimed so much before other avenues get explored.

 

[SJRB]

I'm actually okay with paying extra if this comes to the UK.

Currently I pay £8.99 per month and get access to Prime TV (which includes sports like the odd Rugby, PL matches in December) and free next day delivery on Prime items from Amazon.

I'm already getting fantastic value for money. Even with a few quid extra it'd still be fantastic value.

My guy, this is the wrong mentality to have. Don't champion predatory corporate behavior.

You get nothing for that additional fee, you know that right? They inconvenience you, no they bully you into paying more for the exact same service you were already paying handsomely for.

 

[cheststrongwell]

I'm seriously considering going back to blu-rays and dvds. I'm lazy and weak though, so I know I'll probably end up bending over and taking it up the ass.

 

[Doczu]

Yeah no thanks. I've already said bye to Netflix due to them cracking down on my shared family account, Disney is talking about rising their price and starting their own version of shared account bans and now Amazon wants me to watch commercials or pay more?

Good thing piracy laws are quite compasionate in Poland and downloading something for my own use is perfectly legal.

So welcome back torrents, fuck you streaming services.

 

[Lunarorbit]

They started with the ads before each show to soften us up. This is bullshit. My prime is up in February and I haven't bought anything from them in 2 years.

Plus Thursday night football sucks ass. Not renewing

 

[simpatico]

Buy a damn VPN like an adult.

 

[AJUMP23]

Buy a damn VPN like an adult.

How does that limit commercials?

Does a Pi Hole keep streaming services from sending commercials.?

 

[justonething]

If they have something that can bypass adblock youtube would already be using it.

 

[BlackTron]

Glad I got out of Prime a while ago. Most of the time it is easier for them to ship your item as fast as Prime than to artificially slow their logistics down anyway.

 

[MudoSkills]

Get fucked.

 

[AJUMP23]

Get fucked.

I am just letting you know.....no reason to be mad at me.

 

[Dr.D00p]

I don't have Amazon Prime or Netflix anymore, yet bizarrely I've still been able to watch any of the stuff they put out, any time I want....

 

[FunkMiller]

I don't have Amazon Prime or Netflix anymore, yet bizarrely I've still been able to watch any of the stuff they put out, any time I want....

No need to have a h-aaaar-d time finding content.

 

[AJUMP23]

I don't have Amazon Prime or Netflix anymore, yet bizarrely I've still been able to watch any of the stuff they put out, any time I want....

If there was a way to automate that would help. my biggest hindrance is the wife and kids. I could do it and be fine with myself but the wife and kids need something simple and easily updated.

 

[Liamario]

 

[AJUMP23]

I think this one.

 

[Liamario]

I think this one.

I felt mine was more somber. It wasn't a choice I made, but one forced upon me.

 

[Spyxos]

Prime Video is really bad. Everyone is saying Netflix has bad content, but Prime Video is like 2 levels below that. I use it few times in a year. Good luck for charging for no commercials.

 

[poppabk]

I'll probably just stomach the commercials.

 

[Putonahappyface]

Prime Video is really bad. Everyone is saying Netflix has bad content, but Prime Video is like 2 levels below that. I use it few times in a year. Good luck for charging for no commercials.

Agreed. I only have it for Prime delivery, Clarksons Farm and The Grand Tour.

 

[AJUMP23]

Prime Video is really bad. Everyone is saying Netflix has bad content, but Prime Video is like 2 levels below that. I use it few times in a year. Good luck for charging for no commercials.

Prime hasn't put anything out in a while that interest me. And stuff that looked interesting is no longer. I wanted to like Jack Ryan, but they made the politics there unbearable. Rings of power was ok at times, but very bad too. I don't know if I want to watch that wheel of time show. I do love the Clarksons Farm and Grand Tour stuff. The thing I watch there regularly are the Great courses series they alternate out on a monthly basis.

 

[IDKFA]

My guy, this is the wrong mentality to have. Don't champion predatory corporate behavior.

You get nothing for that additional fee, you know that right? They inconvenience you, no they bully you into paying more for the exact same service you were already paying handsomely for.

If Netflix announced another price hike then I'd have to consider the value.

I buy stuff from Amazon on a almost weekly basis. Some times multiple times in a week, so getting the free postage costs is a benefit.

I also enjoy the TV service, especially the odd sports they have on there.

However, I do have a limit on what I'd consider value for money. If Amazon upped the price by say, and additional £8.99, then I'd have to work out the costs to see if it'd still be a beneft.

 

[thegame983]

I mean do people not just torrent everything like me?

 

[Fbh]

 

[CrankyJay™]

Welp, fuck these clowns.

 

[gaming_again]

Prime hasn't put anything out in a while that interest me. And stuff that looked interesting is no longer. I wanted to like Jack Ryan, but they made the politics there unbearable. Rings of power was ok at times, but very bad too. I don't know if I want to watch that wheel of time show. I do love the Clarksons Farm and Grand Tour stuff. The thing I watch there regularly are the Great courses series they alternate out on a monthly basis.

Reacher owned. Lower Decks is good too.

 

[gaming_again]

I mean do people not just torrent everything like me?

Steaming was cheap enough that I was happy to pay to offset the time/effort in torrenting. That calculation doesn’t work anymore.

 

[AJUMP23]

Reacher owned. Lower Decks is good too.

I thought Lower decks was on Paramount?

 

[Rival]

Stop complaining. No one realizes just how much it costs to maintain a mega yacht.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

I am just letting you know.....no reason to be mad at me.

YOU did this!!

To the castle!

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Of the 3 streaming services we have (Disney, Apple and Amazon), Amazon gets the least play. I can't even remember what the last thing I watched was. There are rarely films on there I want to see, and when I do spot something I'd like to watch, it's often got an additional fee attached. I definitely wouldn't be up for paying more - though having said that, Amazon's service is wrapped up in deliveries, etc. Which I think I would likely want to continue with, but I could see me dropping that too.

Either way, we watch something on Channel 4 (UK Public Service Broadcaster that's ad funded, but doesn't aim to make profit) most days of the week. That has ads both on broadcast or through streaming but they don't bother me. I think the deal has to be see ads OR pay a subscription - it feels far more intrusive if you're paying and getting ads.

The whole streaming model is crap, there are too many services for it to be worth subscribing to all of them, and most of them have a fairly low hit rate in terms of things worth watching.

I'd be interested to know if illegal downloads have decreased since streaming became bigger, and if they're picking up again as fees and number of services go up.

 

[German Hops]

Corporate greed never ceases to amaze me.
They're nothing more than sanctified crack dealers.

 

[jason10mm]

I feel like this would have gone over better had Rings of Power, or at the very least Wheel of Time, been real cultural successes. But they both whiffed so hard. The Boys can't have much life left, right? Reacher was fun and Terminal List is gonna be slow to return. Amazon execs gotta be desperate.

But if they DO do commercials, at least front load 'em all instead of dropping them randomly into shows that no longer take commercial breaks into account so it completely destroys any narrative momentum. Disney, I'm looking at you!

Gonna be funny if they do start writing with commercial breaks in mind such that the higher tier folks then gotta deal with random fade to blacks and seemingly bizarre mid episode cliffhangers that are then IMMEDIATELY resolved because there was no need to grab viewers for a 2 minute commercial break

 

[RiccochetJ]

I'll probably pay the bump when there's a new season of The Boys and then turn it right back off after that. There's nothing else on Prime where I can't stomach a couple commercials. I already get commercials for Thursday Night Football which is honestly the only reason I launch Prime Video at the moment.

 

[Larogue]

 

[Trogdor1123]

This usa only?

 

[AJUMP23]

This usa only?

We pay for everything so ya probably.

 

[jshackles]

I was a happy Prime customer for over a decade, but recently cancelled. It does suck sometimes because occasionally a good deal will come up that's less than $25, but eh... It's always something I can live without or often buy elsewhere.

Prime Video was shit woke nonsense anyway. Glad I dumped it.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Either way, we watch something on Channel 4 (UK Public Service Broadcaster that's ad funded, but doesn't aim to make profit) most days of the week. That has ads both on broadcast or through streaming but they don't bother me. I think the deal has to be see ads OR pay a subscription - it feels far more intrusive if you're paying and getting ads.

Even with that, if you're watching live guff, you still need a TV licence, which is over £130+ a year, or £13+ a month before you even get to these services (They'd have you believe, anyway..)

All of it adds up to a crazy amount if you're an avid consumer of these services.

I got right pissed off with it all. I subbed to most of them at one point, the real pisser was sports, £40 EACH for Sky and BT, 80 quid which ended up me never being able to watch the games I wanted as they wasn't broadcast in the UK. You could watch the fucking things if you were in the UAE mind you.. that was it for me, pissed me right off!

Binned the licence fee, haven't had it for three years, mainly just watch YouTube now.

I find most normal TV utter dross nowdays anyway so it was no loss at all. And my god, the shit the BBC are pushing, I doubt I'll ever buy another licence again.

 

[Trogdor1123]

We pay for everything so ya probably.

Doesn’t your prime cost the most too?

 

[DeepEnigma]

I was a happy Prime customer for over a decade, but recently cancelled. It does suck sometimes because occasionally a good deal will come up that's less than $25, but eh... It's always something I can live without or often buy elsewhere.

Prime Video was shit woke nonsense anyway. Glad I dumped it.

Same, and for the same reasons. Cancelled.

 

[Kilau]

Interesting way to cover a price increase from $140 to $176, if you want to keep the same "quality" you have now.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

typical anti-consumer business strategy that most companies do

I think the worst part is that they recently raised the base Prime sub, so most people justified it by saying "thats okay... I only signed up for expedited delivery i dont mind paying a couple extra bux for all the additions theyve thrown in..." but now just X months later theyve stacked an additional premium tier fee on top of that new increased base price fee....really pulling the wool over the sheeps eyes.

now everyone is paying more money for a shittier Prime, but everyone is okay with it because the alternative is 3$/mo more and was introduced with a large enough gap of time for people to forget/not care, its all psychological warfare for your hard earned wallet, and really your time.

think how much the culture has you by the nuts. you spend your precious time (the most valueable commodity in life) earning money (converting your time into a bullshit physical reprensation of your time/value), then the govt (and usually justly) takes their cut of your money(time), so hypotehtically now youre down from owning 1 hour of raw life time to owning .67 hours of worked time. now you spend some of your .67 hour of worked time on an Amazon Prime sub, so now you have .6 hrs of worked time in your wallet, and finally you then spend your raw life time watching Prime so now Amazon has sucked both of your nipples and left you with .6 worked hours AND .8 raw life hours. and dont forget the ads youll be spending raw life time credits on...

talk about a lose lose situation.