The last major ad-free streaming service is going away. Amazon users will start seeing ads in movies and TV shows on Prime Video starting Jan. 29, according to an email sent to subscribers on Tuesday. To make Prime Video ad-free, you need to: For an additional $3 per monthin addition to the $139 annual Amazon Prime membership fee.
“Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will contain limited advertising,” Amazon said in a statement. e-mail To Prime members. “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and grow our investment over a long period of time.”
this The five biggest streaming services Now there are ads in the United States. Prime Video is not far behind maximum and Paramount+the company launched an ad-supported tier in 2021, and Netflix and Disney+ The company launched the advertising model in late 2022. We previously learned that this change was for Prime members, but now we know exactly when our streaming dreams will be dashed.
Streaming services once envisioned TV and movie content that could thrive through a subscription model, providing users with premium content for a low monthly fee and without advertising. Prime was the last major streamer to delay the rollout of ads, but now it’s following the lead of other media giants.
Streaming has essentially become a more curated version of cable TV. In a subscription model, the viewers of a streaming service are the customers: they provide the company with money to watch premium content. However, in an ad-supported model, the customer is the product: Prime Video has a premium (affluent) audience that is now sold to advertisers as demographic data, while Amazon has a wealth of data on what its subscribers like to buy. Running ads to save users $3 a month feels like a subtle shift, but Prime Video’s announcement feels like the final nail in the coffin of subscription streaming. The only major difference from today’s cable TV is that streaming services are algorithmically curated based on your preferences.
The shift toward advertising may mean that subscription models cannot be monetized at scale.Subscription streaming pioneer Netflix has been hit as its growth has slowed significantly in recent years Password sharing to increase subscriptions.
The only major player to have no ads on its streaming service is Apple. However, Apple may not need Apple TV to be profitable, as the service enhances its product ecosystem. However, the same is true for Amazon’s Prime Video, but that’s not the route they chose to take.
