Amazon will roll out ads on Prime Video next year – and users who don’t want them will have to pay extra each month
- Amazon said the move will help it to ‘continue investing in compelling content’
- READ MORE: Rival Disney+ rolls out ad-based subscription option to UK users
Amazon Prime Video users will soon have to endure adverts on shows and movies unless they subscribe for an ad-free tier at a higher cost.
The tech giant said ads will be introduced in the US, the UK, Germany and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in the year.
Those who don’t want ads interrupting their chosen content will have to pay an extra $2.99 per month – leading to furor from users who slammed the firm as ‘greedy’.
Amazon’s move follows rivals Netflix and Disney+, both of which have rolled out ads to their cheapest subscription options in the past year.
These rivals play the ads before and even during their content, much like watching a commercial TV channel, and it’s believed Amazon will do the same.
Starting in 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements in the UK and the US, among other countries, the tech giant has confirmed
READ MORE Disney+ rolls out ad-based subscription option to UK users
Disney is battling to reverse falling profits amid a sharp drop in advertising sales
Amazon said in a blog post on Friday: ‘To continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time, starting in 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements in the UK.
‘We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.’
Amazon said it won’t be making changes to the current price of Prime membership, so customers who don’t mind seeing ads won’t have to pay more money.
However, for those customers who don’t want to see ads, they will have to pay an extra fee.
This will be an additional $2.99 per month for people in the US, while the extra fee for other countries will be confirmed at a later date.
Prime subscription in the US currently costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year.
Amazon said: ‘We will email Prime members several weeks before ads are introduced into Prime Video with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option if they would like.’
Live event content such as sports will continue to include advertising even if the subscriber has paid for the ad-free plan, Amazon said.
Furious Prime users took to X (Twitter) to criticise the decision, with one saying an advert ‘utterly disrespects & vandalises those original creations’.
‘Greedy barely covers it’: Users took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to vent their anger at Amazon’s decision
Not happy: One user said Amazon ‘can easily afford to just reduce their billions in profit slightly’
He continued: ‘“Greedy” barely covers it. They assume we mugs will cough up?’
Another user posted: ‘Does Amazon not make enough money from us as it is?
‘They can easily afford to just reduce their billions in profit slightly.’
The streaming industry has been facing a slowdown in new sign-ups as subscribers struggling with high inflation and interest rates dial back entertainment spending and other discretionary expenses.
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