Amazon Prime Video will include advertisements in films and shows starting early next year, the company announced on Friday, joining other streaming services with similar advertisement-free subscription options.
Key facts
- Prime Video—included with a $14.99 per month Amazon Prime subscription or separately for $8.99—will include an additional $2.99 fee for ad-free viewing, Amazon said Friday.
- Advertisements for Prime Video continue will be introduced in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Canada starting in early 2024, the company said, before being introduced in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in the year.
- Amazon will email Prime subscribers “several weeks” before advertisements are introduced with additional information on how to sign up for the ad-free option.
- The company noted that commercials will be “limited,” with a goal of having “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
- Amazon said it was adding advertisements to allow the company to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.”
Big number
$10.6 billion. That’s how much Amazon made in ad revenue in the second quarter of this year, according to the company, an increase of nearly $2 billion over the previous year.
Surprising fact
Advertisements were already included for live events, including Prime Video’s broadcast of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. Amazon is in discussions to acquire the rights to stream NBA games when the rights come up for renewal in 2025, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Key background
The Journal reported earlier this year that Amazon was planning to launch an ad-free tier for its Prime Video streaming service, though an Amazon spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the Journal’s report and said the company would not comment “on rumors or speculation.”
A decision to add an ad-free subscription joins similar options available from Netflix and Disney+, which announced last month it would raise its ad-free, premium subscription price from $10.99 per month to $13.99.
Netflix charges $15.49 for its ad-free subscription, after it eliminated its cheapest, ad-free “Basic” $9.99 plan in July.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
