When Amazon Prime launched in Australia in 2017 it cost just under $7 a month. This time last year the company hiked its monthly fee to $9.99 – a 42% jump. Come July, watching ad-free content will set Prime Video users back $12.99 each month.
Season 3 of The Test – Amazon Prime Video’s unscripted cricket series that chronicles the 2023 Ashes – debuted on the platform in May. It is Prime Video’s third most-watched tv show in Australia this week, and can currently be enjoyed without ads.
In the first week of July however, viewers of The Test – and all other Prime Video content – will see ads along with their favourite Aussie cricketers.
The only way around viewing the advertisements is to cough up an additional $3 a month. The 33% price hike takes an ad-free Prime Video membership to $12.99 a month – almost double what it was when the subscription service launched in Australia 7 years ago.
Australian Prime Video customers received an email on May 21st explaining the changes. ‘Continued investment in compelling content’ was the justification given for the price increase.
“Starting July 2, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements,” the Amazon email reads. “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.”
The email states that all Prime Video programming viewed via the $9.99 per month plan will be subject to ads, including Australian originals Deadloch, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and the ICC World Cup Cricket.
“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers,” a Prime Video statement reads.
Amazon Prime free delivery will remain the same under both the $9.99 per month plan with ads, and the new $12.99 ad-free monthly subscription.
Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world. Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here or become a member here.
