In case the holiday buzz made you forget (or completely miss) Amazon's news about ad placement on Prime Video, we're here to remind you that the commercials are coming today, unless you pay more money, per supposed.
As it happened, Amazon broke the news right after Christmas, leaving a beautiful email in users' inboxes (which most people probably weren't even checking at the time) to announce the launch of ads. The new ad-free plan will cost an additional $2.99 per month, bringing your Prime subscription from $14.99 per month to $17.98 per month or your standalone Prime Video subscription from $8.99 per month to $11 .98 per month. You won't be automatically transferred to the new ad-free plan, but you can “pre-order” the new tier from amazon website.
Amazon says it's making the change to allow you to “continue to invest in engaging content and continue to grow that investment over a long period of time.” We also don't know how many ads Amazon will show on the ad-supported tier, but it says its goal is to “have significantly fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
The company first announced its plans to bring ads to Prime Video last September, and it's not the only one making the change. Both Netflix and Disney Plus have also begun incorporating commercials as streamers look to advertising as another source of revenue. Prime Video was one of the last big hurdles in rolling out ad-supported streaming, with Max, Paramount Plus, Hulu, and Peacock all offering ad-supported plans; Now, all that's left is Apple TV Plus.
Update, January 29 at 7:50 a.m. ET: Language updated in story originally published on Friday, January 26.
