Amazon Video began displaying ads in its content on January 29. Users who do not wish to see ads have to pay an additional fee of $2.99 per month, whether they have an exclusive Prime Video subscription or are Amazon Prime subscribers. At the time of writing the level of the fee isknown only for the United States and not for other countries.
The first countries where ads are being shown are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. Subscribers residing there started seeing ads from the day of implementation, January 29.
Prime Video users in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia will start seeing ads at the start of February. The additional fees to avoid ads in these countries are still unknown.
How Many Ads Will Prime Video Show in Its Content?
Regarding the number of ads to be shown, Amazon Prime Video has stated that it expects to show “meaningfully fewer ads than linear television and other streaming TV providers.”
However, they have not provided exact figures. According to the specialized media outlet Variety, it could be an average of four minutes per hour, aiming to be the lowest ad broadcast rate for a streaming platform and far less than, for example, prime time cable, which can be well over 15 minutes per hour.
Prime Video, a Key Part of Amazon
Prime Video is one of the pillars of Amazon’s subscription service, according to the company’s CEO, Andy Jassy, in recent statements. He even mentioned that “we also have an increasing conviction that Prime Video can be a big and profitable business in its own right.”
In this context, Amazon completed the acquisition of MGM, one of Hollywood’s most successful film studios, for $8.5 billion at the end of 2023. As part of the deal, the company acquired the global television rights to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ franchise.
