Amazon Prime Video to Feature Ads From January 29, With $2.99 Fee to Avoid Them

[Nick A]

The streaming services have gotten completely out of control with their pricing, ads, and the sheer amount of services available is overwhelming and at this point completely ridiculous.

I ended up unsubscribing from all of them, and will resubscribe for 1 month and cancel if there's a specific series I want to watch.

 

[seek3r]

How about a lower monthly cost Prime option with no Prime Video? Their content is mostly sub par.

Amazon excels in particular in book and comic adaptations, Good Omens has been amazing, Wheel of Time has been solid, their taking on the Expanse (which was an amazing show) for its final few seasons was great, The Boys has been great and Gen V is continuing that too, season 1 of Carnival Row was great (but season 2 was basically destroyed by the pandemic delays), the man in the high castle is worth watching, marvelous mrs maisel is fantastic, etc.

also I know rings of power is divisive but I personally love it, everything except for the completely unnecessary love story that lacked chemistry

 

[4743913]

Quit giving them (AZ, NF, D+) money.. it is so simple. They have nothing you need.

 

[4743913]

I wont pirate.

but have you ever?

 

[Rozellev]

How about a lower monthly cost Prime option with no Prime Video? Their content is mostly sub par.

Very much!

 

[Skyscraperfan]

Not exactly. Amazon is essentially raising the price of ad-free Prime Video by $2.99/month while also offering a new ad-supported option.

They frame it quite differently though. They say, it will not get more expensive, but they will show some ads now. And then they say that you can remove those ads for $2.99 per month. So it sounds like they are actually giving you something. How dumb do they think their customers are?

Amazon Prime used to be just a premium shipping service. It guaranteed you free shipping without a minimum value and that your packages will arrive the next day. It started in Germany for 29 Euros a year and that was worth it if you ordered a lot on Amazon. I never signed up though. Then they started adding that streaming service nobody had asked for an raised the price to 69 Euros a year. So people who just wanted free shipping now got that streaming service. That is like McDonald's doubling the price of a meal and in return include a free copy of the "Vogue" and a lipstick. Something completely unrelated.

 

[Astrohunter]

How dumb do they think their customers are?

Aren't they?

 

[zorinlynx]

Prime Video is pretty crappy anyway. For over 50% of the stuff on there, you have to pay additional fees to watch or "rent" the content rather than it being included with prime. There's no easy way to filter for "free" (included with Prime) content.

I cancelled Prime months ago and have had no desire to return; this recent decision makes it even less likely.

 

[dguisinger]

Amazon Prime Video will introduce limited ads to its content starting on January 29, offering an ad-free option for an additional fee.

In an email to subscribers, Amazon confirmed that movies and TV shows on Prime Video will soon feature "limited advertisements" starting on January 29, 2024. The company assured users that Prime Video will have "meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers."

The current price of Amazon Prime subscriptions will not change, but members who prefer to avoid ads can opt for a new ad-free version at an extra cost of $2.99 per month. Amazon's email to subscribers reads:

Amazon already operates Freevee, a free, ad-supported streaming service. Competitor streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix have also introduced ad-supported options amid rising subscription costs.










Article Link: Amazon Prime Video to Feature Ads From January 29, With $2.99 Fee to Avoid Them

Time to switch back to DVDs, streaming companies are becoming too greedy

 

[contacos]

The way they frame it like they r doing a good thing for the customer 🤮🤌🏼

 

[sjsharksfan12]

That’s not what I signed up and paid a year in advance for.

That's the same with me. I haven't seen anything about those who paid a year in advance. I didn't pay an annual subscription to suddenly have ads appear, especially if they are starting to charge 2.99 a month. There's a reason why I paid annual, so I wouldn't have to pay the installments.

 

[IvanX]

At this rate, I might cancel my Prime membership:
- Least used streaming service
- Rarely use music
- If delivery arrives a couple of days later, we’ll manage

This drip pricing is very “me too” in the streaming world and people need to vote with their wallets.

 

[jdclifford]

He hasn't been the Amazon CEO since 2021.

But he’s still its largest shareholder.

 

[djcraze]

Well, that's a service I will continue to not use 😆

 

[decypher44]

I haven’t received this email yet. What about subs to other channels through Prime Video? I have subs to MarqueeTV and BroadwayHD. Will these now get ads?

 

[Howard2k]

That's the same with me. I haven't seen anything about those who paid a year in advance. I didn't pay an annual subscription to suddenly have ads appear, especially if they are starting to charge 2.99 a month. There's a reason why I paid annual, so I wouldn't have to pay the installments.

Their terms of service, which you agreed to, allow them to make this change. Those same terms should also allow you a protracted refund.

 

[bluesteel]

Amazon needs to unbundle Amazon Prime from Prime Video. I rarely use Video anymore and I don’t listen to their Music. I’m not watching movies and tv with ads, and I’m not paying another 2.99 on top of the yearly Prime fee. I also have a Prime Visa. If Amazon keeps moving down this path where they think we are all idiots, I’m going to cancel Prime and start shopping at other places.

 

[terrapinjess]

They need to change the sign on the truck to A whole lot more ads

Maybe just keep the "A Whole" and ditch the "lot more ads" 😂

 

[cylack]

Greed knows no bounds. We agreed to pay for Prime to avoid the ads. Guess a lot more people are going to come out of retirement and dust off the tricorne from the shelf.

 

[jaster2]

All the streamers... "We strive [to waste money on crap content and deals] to bring you the best content and therefore we are [gouging you to make up for our incompetence and greed] raising our prices to provide [lackluster content now with annoying ads] an even better value and experience.

 

[MBAir2010]

I dont mind ADs
and would pay extra to see ads
who knows, I might get a bigger residual check from advertising.

BUT
these ads suck!
they are made to be mindless,
non- product related, as the scene and script does not fit the item being pushed.
and every white male is depicted a toxic, a bumbling fool.

that what do expect for a horrible soulless un-inventive company?

 

[webkit]

They frame it quite differently though. They say, it will not get more expensive, but they will show some ads now. And then they say that you can remove those ads for $2.99 per month. So it sounds like they are actually giving you something. How dumb do they think their customers are?

Some of that is just marketing but they wanted to give customers the option to choose the higher price option rather than force an automatic price increase.

Also, since companies typically promote product/service starting prices rather than max prices which can be lowered, this was the logical approach to take. The net result here is a higher price for ad-free but it allows them to continue to promote the lowest possible (or “starting”) price for Prime and Prime Video memberships rather than higher prices which can be lowered by opting for ad-supported.

 

[cicalinarrot]

2023 is the year we found out all those nice services we subscribe to were actually just free trials.
Long free trials we paid for.

 

[gsmornot]

At this rate, Sherwin Williams will run ad’s to watch paint dry.

 

[serpico007]

I have been canceling subscriptions this year and will not be paying more for Prime Video. It was included with the Prime membership so it was just a bonus to me. I haven't received the Amazon email but I'm thinking this is US only for now. I'm sure it will happen here next year too eventually.