Amazon's Prime Video Service Will Begin Including Ads Early Next Year
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Prime Video subscribers — and Amazon Prime subscribers — will now have to pay an extra $2.99 per month to opt out of advertisements
Amazon Studios, Courtesy of Prime Video, Warrick Page/Prime Video
Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Lola Tund in The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Dominique Fishback in Swarm.Prime Video won’t be ad-free for much longer.
Amazon Prime subscribers — who have free access to the streaming service — will have to pay extra if they want to watch their favorite shows and movies without ads. On Friday, a press release from the company indicated that “limited advertisements” will appear during content “starting in early 2024.”
For viewers who aren’t willing to sit through promotions, an additional fee of $2.99 per month will remove ads from the streaming experience.
Related: The Best TV Shows on Amazon Prime Video to Stream Now
Erika Doss/Prime Video
The Summer I Turned Pretty on Prime Video.The existing fees for Prime Video are incurred two ways: either through an Amazon Prime account — $14.99 per month or $139 per year — or a standalone Prime Video subscription for $8.99 per month.
Though ads in any capacity may be annoying to viewers who are used to promotional-free content, Prime Video is still aiming to have less ads than other streaming and linear TV platforms.
The U.S., U.K., Germany and Canada are up first in terms of ad rollout, and can expect the change as the new year arrives. Current Prime Video subscribers will get the ad-free option immediately.
Ben Rothstein/Prime Video
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video.Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Prime Video is far from the first streaming platform to introduce ads to their user experience. Hulu, Paramount+ and Peacock have offered ad-filled and ad-free tiers since their conceptions. Max, Disney+ and Netflix adjusted to the tier system in recent years. Now, all offer a slight pay increase to opt out of the advertisements, which air before and during shows like traditional television stations.
The biggest difference is in Netflix’s streaming, which offers an ad tier for a lower cost than its basic, ad-less membership, which costs $15.49 per month. In comparison, if a viewer opts in for ads, they’ll pay around $6.99 per month.
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