Amazon Prime Video started displaying ads in its content as of January 29. Users who do not wish to see ads will need to pay an additional fee of $2.99 per month.
This extra fee will be added to the annual cost of $139 for an Amazon Prime subscription or to the standalone Amazon Prime Video subscription of $8.99 per month. If this ‘extra’ is not paid, users have been seeing ads in Prime Video content from January 29.
The prices of Prime Video with the $2.99 extra:
- Annual subscription of $139: This subscription equals paying $11.58 per month, to which $2.99 should be added. This means a total of $14.57 per month.
- Monthly Amazon subscription of $14.99: To this monthly subscription, $2.99 should be added, making the total cost $17.98 per month.
- Standalone monthly Prime Video subscription of $8.99: To this monthly subscription, $2.99 should be added, making the total cost $11.98 per month.
It should be noted that Live TV, Freevee, and channel subscriptions may continue to show ads. Purchased or rented series and movies will not have ads in any case.
How many ads are being shown on Prime Video?
Regarding the number of ads to be shown, Amazon Prime Video states that it is showing “meaningfully fewer ads than linear television and other streaming TV providers.” The platform joins other similar companies like Netflix, HBO, or Disney+, which already show ads in their broadcasts.
Advertising, key in Amazon’s structure
According to the company’s financial data, advertising accounts for more than 8% of Amazon’s total net sales and has already surpassed the revenue from its subscription services.
This new $2.99 fee comes after changes in the subscriptions of Amazon Prime Music, Prime Video’s sister platform for music, which has added 98 million songs to its music library free of charge for Prime members. However, users can only play individual songs if they upgrade to Amazon Unlimited for $9 per month.
