Amazon Prime Video will start running commercials starting in early 2024
Amazon Prime Video unveiled plans to introduce advertisements during shows and movies starting early next year — becoming the latest streaming service to embrace ads to keep its business growing.
Known for popular original programming like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Summer I Turned Pretty, Amazon Prime Video will offer two tiers of subscriptions in 2024. With ads, the price of Prime membership, which is currently $14.99 per month in the U.S., will not change.
But for ad-free content, subscribers in the U.S. will have to pay an additional $2.99 per month. Pricing in other countries will be shared at a later date, Amazon said Friday in a statement.
The company added that the decision was made in an effort to "continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period time." It vowed to have "meaningfully fewer ads" than other streaming TV providers and linear TV.
The tiers will roll out in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Canada in early 2024; France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia will be added by the end of 2024. Prime members will receive an email several weeks before the changes go into effect describing how to sign up for the ad-free option.
Over the past few years, more streaming services have implemented ad-tier systems to keep subscription costs down without compromising content.
Disney+ introduced the pricing model last year, charging $10.99 per month for ad-free content, which will jump to $13.99 per month starting Oct. 12. Netflix's standard ad-free plan, which also began last year, costs $15.49 — more than double its subscription with ads
Apple TV+ may also be considering an ad-tier system. Earlier this year, Apple hired a digital video advertising executive, possibly to help build a future advertising model, The Information reported. [Copyright 2023 NPR]
