Last week, Amazon sent out emails to Amazon Prime subscribers in the US, alerting them that ads will begin to appear during Amazon Prime Video movies and TV shows, beginning on January 29, 2024. Now there's word that UK Prime users will start seeing ads on Prime Video just a few days later.
In an email sent to Amazon Prime UK subscribers, the company stated that "Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements" beginning on February 5, 2024. As with the US announcement, the UK email stated this change was being made so that Amazon could "continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time."
The price of Amazon Prime UK will continue to be £8.99 a month, £95 for an annual subscription, or £5.99 a month if users just want to access Amazon Prime Video. However, if users want to continue to view Prime Video content without ads during films and TV shows, they have the option to pay an extra £2.99 a month for that privilege. They can "preorder" that additional fee by going to the Amazon UK website.
Amazon is trying to sell this change by stating the ad-based Prime Video will have "meaningfully fewer ads than ad-supported TV channels and other streaming TV providers." However, the company is already posting ads for its shows and movies in front of Amazon Prime UK content. The Amazon FreeVee service, which offers a lot of films and series with ads for free, is also available to access in the UK as well as the US and other countries.
Other premiere streaming services have launched new ad-based plans, and also increased prices for their ad-free subscription tiers, in 2023. It remains to be seen if prices will continue to go up for streaming services in 2024.
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