Subsequent 12 months, watching TV exhibits and flicks on Amazon Prime Video with out advertisements will value greater than it does now. In early 2024, Amazon will present advertisements with Prime Video content material except you pay $2.99 further.
Amazon introduced as we speak that Prime Video customers within the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK will routinely begin seeing ads “in early 2024.” Subscribers will obtain a notification electronic mail “a number of weeks” upfront, at which level they’ll choose to pay $2.99 further for ad-free Prime Video, Amazon mentioned.
That takes the worth of ad-free Prime Video from $8.99/month alone to $11.98/month and from $14.99/month with Prime to $17.98/month.
Here is how that compares towards different ad-free streaming service tiers:
- Apple TV+: $6.99
- Disney+: $13.99 (beginning October 12)
- Netflix: $15.49
- Hulu: $17.99 (beginning October 12)
- Paramount+: $11.99
- Peacock: $11.99
Amazon mentioned it is making this modification “to proceed investing in compelling content material and maintain rising that funding over an extended time period.” Prime Video is an costly endeavor, costing Amazon $16.6 billion in 2022, with $7 billion of that spent on unique content material.
The Wall Road Journal reported in June that Amazon was contemplating introducing an ad-supported Prime Video tier amid excessive curiosity from advertisers. The corporate is already closely invested in promoting, with its second-quarter earnings reporting promoting providers rising 22 p.c 12 months over 12 months to $10.9 billion. Amazon follows solely Google and Meta when it comes to digital advert income, in response to Insider Intelligence.
Some Prime Video content material already has product placement, and sports activities programming on Prime Video has advertisements. However bringing advertisements to all the service provides Amazon the flexibility to generate extra income from advertisements and from individuals who determine to cough up the additional money to keep away from seeing commercials.
Prime Video subscribers who do not pay the additional $2.99 (and do not simply cancel their subscription altogether) are promised “meaningfully fewer advertisements than linear TV and different streaming TV suppliers.”
Amazon didn’t present additional particulars concerning the upcoming change. Nevertheless, Max says it exhibits “about 4 minutes of advertisements per hour,” and Peacock exhibits as much as 5 minutes per hour. A Might report from Insider Intelligence citing information from promoting analyst MediaRadar mentioned Disney+ exhibits 5.3 minutes of advertisements per hour, Netflix 4 minutes, and Hulu 7.3 minutes.
With present costs beginning at $9.99 per thirty days, Prime Video was one of many most cost-effective methods to get streaming TV with out advertisements. Whereas the modifications put pricing for ad-free Prime Video extra on par with its rivals, it might nonetheless disappoint budget-minded cord-cutters. Streaming providers began off as a less expensive, less complicated various to cable TV. However as an inflow in providers, modifications in pricing, complicated bundles, and scattered content material have confirmed, we have not gotten that removed from cable in any case.
