Earlier this year, Amazon announced plans to start incorporating ads into movies and TV shows streaming from its Prime Video service, and now the company has revealed a specific date when you'll start seeing them: it's January 29. “This will allow us to continue investing in engaging content and continue to grow that investment over a long period of time,” the company said in an email to clients about the pending switch to “limited ads.”
“Our goal is to have significantly fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. “There is no need for you to do anything and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership,” the company wrote. Customers have the option to pay an additional $2.99 per month to continue avoiding ads.
The rest of the email summarizes the many benefits of a Prime subscription, no doubt an attempt to prevent customers from canceling because of this decision. Edge Readers were not very happy with the initial news from September:
Amazon Prime currently costs $14.99 each month or $139 annually. (You can subscribe to Prime Video individually for $8.99 a month.) The new ad-free streaming fee would raise Prime to just under $18 and bring standalone Prime Video to just under $12.
Amazon also operates Freevee, a free, advertising-supported streaming service. The company's email notes that “live event content, such as sports, and content offered through Amazon Freevee will continue to include advertising.”
The move comes as competing streaming services continue to raise subscription fees across the board. The monthly cost of Amazon Prime doesn't change, but if you want to keep the same experience you have today starting January 29, you'll end up paying more.
