Amazon is planning on launching advertisements on its Prime Video streaming platform in 2024 as part of efforts to increase funding for TV and movie development.
UK Prime customers, alongside US, Germany and Canadian customers, will come across ads at the start of next year unless they choose to pay an extra fee for the "ad-free" option.
Amazon declared that Prime Video continued to provide "significantly attractive value".
Like its competitors, Disney+ and Netflix, this action is similar.
Amazon announced that ads will be implemented in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia at some point in 2024.
Prime subscribers in the U.S. will have the option to pay an additional $2.99 (£2.44) per month to get a subscription tier without advertisements.
Amazon stated that the cost of their product in other countries will be revealed in the future.
At present, a Prime membership which provides free one-day distribution of items as well as access to its streaming service is charged at £8.99 per month, or £95 annually, in Britain.
Amazon declared that, beginning in 2024, Prime Video's shows and movies will feature limited ads in the UK in order to sustain investing in appealing content and to enlarge that investment in the long run.
However, customers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decisions made by other streaming companies.
In August, Disney+ extended its ad-supported service to the UK, while Netflix debuted its "basic with ads" streaming package last year.
Netflix made a huge shift when they introduced the concept of a subscription-based, streaming service without commercials.
Hanna Kahlert, an analyst from Midia Research, remarked that many individuals do not take kindly to the idea of advertisements on services that have already been paid for, although some are willing to put aside their distaste if it makes the cost of streaming less expensive.
She noted that Amazon has the capability to transform the situation without worrying about a mass of terminations, since streaming forms only a fraction of the Prime bundle.
"She stated that the competition isn't just based on content or the experience it provides to viewers in video, but rather a complete set of convenience factors. Regardless of advertisements or not, Amazon retains its lead when it comes to convenience - with its content being a reward on top of that."
Amazon announced on Friday that they have a goal of significantly fewer ads than other streaming TV providers and linear TV programs.
The company declared that it would contact Prime members a few weeks before ads are launched to illustrate how to register for the ad-free option if they desire to.
Live event broadcasts, such as sports matches, will still contain commercials even for subscribers who opt for the ad-free option.
An analysis conducted by Kantar recently uncovered that people drastically reduced their use of video streaming services in 2020, as they searched for different ways to cope with the sharp rise in the cost of living.
UK paid-for video streaming subscriptions dropped from 30.5 million to 28.5 million, amounting to a decrease of two million.
Kantar reported that demand had an uptick around Christmas, yet people soon resumed cutting back.
Max Willens, an analyst at Insider Intelligence, pointed out that ad-supported tiers are the norm in the streaming industry, which made it possible for Amazon to make the transition.
He remarked that it was uncommon for Amazon, normally a firm that puts its customers first, to reduce the quality of a service it offers them, particularly one with a cost that had increased 75% since its debut, yet this didn't surprise him.
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