Amazon sent an email to people who use Prime, telling them about a new thing happening with Prime Video. Starting January 29, there will be some ads when you watch shows, but not too many.
If you don't want to see ads, you have to pay $2.99 extra every month. Amazon first told everyone about this change back in September.
“This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” Amazon said in an email to Prime members this week. “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
A lot of streaming services like Prime Video are starting to show ads or making people pay more to not see ads. This isn't just Amazon doing it; others are too.
Netflix said in October that if you don't want ads, you'll have to pay $3 more each month. Their basic plan also got a bit more expensive. But their cheapest plan with ads stayed the same price.
Disney+ also raised its prices again. If you don't want ads, it's now $13.99 a month. Hulu, which is mostly owned by Disney, also increased its no-ad price.
Max, which is part of the same company as CNN, raised its price for the first time in January 2023. And Peacock, owned by NBCUniversal, did its first price increase too.
These streaming companies need more money because not as many people are signing up like they did during the pandemic. Making shows is getting more expensive too. So, they raise prices or put ads to make more money.
When Amazon talked about this in September, they said ads will help them keep making shows like “Thursday Night Football.” Amazon spent a lot of money on shows in 2022. They didn't say how long the ad breaks will be. Prime Video, which has shows like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” is part of the Prime subscription.
Streaming services are now trying to make more money, not just get more people to sign up. So, they're either adding ads or making people pay more each month.
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