Amazon plans to add commercials to its Prime Video streaming service in early 2024 unless members opt for an ad-free version for $2.99 per month.
Live event content such as sports will continue to include advertising, Amazon said in a statement. The company said the move will allow it to continue investing in content for the streaming service.
“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers,” Amazon said. The company added that it will not change the cost of Amazon Prime Membership in 2024.
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The ads are set to be rolled out in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in the year. Prime members will be emailed several weeks before ads are introduced with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option, Amazon said.
“Since we launched Prime in 2005, we’ve continued to improve the program and add to the list of benefits our members enjoy,” the company said. “You can expect us to continue to add benefits and features over time.”
The news follows other streaming services announcing new or updated ad-free pricing. These include Disney, which earlier this year said it would hike ad-free Disney Plus Premium prices to $13.99, up from $10.99, beginning October 12. However, the company said its Disney Plus with ads version will remain at the current price of $7.99 per month.
With so many streaming choices, it’s tempting to load up on subscriptions and leave them running, as Kiplinger recently reported. Costs can add up quickly unless you take proactive steps to reduce them such as, for example, canceling the ones that you use the least — you can always re-subscribe when there’s a new show or movie that you want to watch. You can also try pay-per-view to manage a single show, which sometimes can be cheaper than subscribing to a service. Check out Kiplinger's guide to how to save on streaming services which has a number of tips on cutting your streaming costs.
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