Amazon gives one month warning for major Prime Video change – and says users will have to pay to opt out
Update follows Disney and Netflix
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Amazon will start showing ads to users of its Prime Video service across the world, it has announced.
If customers want to avoid the advertising, they will have to pay an extra fee, the company announced. UK prime subscribers will be charged £2.99 to go ad-free, for instance.
Amazon’s change follows similar updates on Disney+ and Netflix. But those services offer ad-supported tiers at lower prices, rather than showing ads to all of their users.
Streaming services have rushed to introduce advertising to generate extra cash from subscribers, which they say will be used to invest in new content.
In an email to Prime members, Amazon said the change will “allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time”.
It said it aims to have “meaningfully fewer ads than ad-supported TV channels and other streaming TV providers”.
Earlier this year, the tech giant confirmed it would begin rolling out advertising on Prime Video in a number of countries, including the UK, US, Germany, Canada and others.
Advertising will begin appearing for users in the US from January 29.
The company confirmed users are not required to take any action before the change kicks in, and there would be no change to the current price of a user’s membership – unless they choose to sign up for the ad-free option.
Amazon Prime currently costs £8.99 a month in the UK for services including next-day and same-day delivery on millions of items on the marketplace, advert-free listening on its music streaming platform, and access to original TV series and films on Prime Video. Amazon said that price will not be changing in 2024.
Additional reporting by agencies