#Prime Video Streaming Service to Include Ads Starting Next Month

(Photo: Prime Video)

Prime Video is making a significant change to its service in January. Viewers will start to see commercials during the streaming services’ programming, like Reacher and The Boys.

Prime Video sent the details to its members about the change:

We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.

No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month.

The service notes that, even if a subscriber pays the additional $2.99, “live event content such as sports, and content offered through Amazon Freevee will continue to include advertising.”

Of course, commercials showing on streaming services are not new. Hulu, Netflix, and others all have ad-supported tiers for their subscribers.

What do you think? Are you a Prime Video subscriber? Are you upset about the addition of ads to its programming? Will you pay the additional fee to avoid seeing ads on Prime?