Back in September, Amazon announced the bad news that Prime members would begin to see video ads in early 2024 when they watched movies and TV shows on Amazon Prime Video. Today, it was revealed that the ads will begin to appear on the service starting January 29, 2024.
The Verge reports that the specific date was announced in emails that were sent to Amazon Prime subscribers. The price for Amazon Prime, which includes access to the Prime Video streaming library as well as many other extras and benefits, will remain the same at $14.99 a month or $139 per year.
The email added a reason for including ads on Prime Video:
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.
Amazon Prime members can get rid of these "limited advertisements" by paying an extra $2.99 a month once the new ad system goes into effect. The email did not say if there would be an option to pay for the extra fee with an increase in the annual Prime subscription. The company already offers a completely free streaming service that's supported by ads, Amazon Freevee.
If you are an Amazon Prime member and want to "pre-order" the new ad-free version of Prime Video before it goes live on January 29, you can do so at this page. You won't be charged the extra $2.99 a month until that date arrives.
Once Amazon Prime Video puts its ad-based plan in place, the only major streaming service that can be watched without any ads, at least for now, is Apple TV+, which recently raised its prices to $9.99 a month.
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