Amazon Prime Video will force you to watch ads unless you pay extra

Home of huge shows to introduce adverts, or charge users more
Amazon’s Prime Video is set to introduce adverts on its TV programmes and films in 2024
Alamy / PA
William Mata22 September 2023

Amazon Prime Video is set to charge users if they do not want to see adverts on the streaming platform.

The home of shows such as The Grand Tour, Black Mirror, Top Boy, and Wildness will bring in adverts to all users from early 2024 — with Disney and Netflix also intending to take this route to add revenue.

“To continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time, starting in early 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements,” a statement from Amazon reads.

“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”

The advertisements will be introduced for the US, UK, Germany, and Canada in early 2024 but later in the year for France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia.

It will cost $2.99 per month extra to view without adverts, the equivalent of £2.44, although Amazon may yet confirm a different amount for British viewers.

Currently, Prime Video is available as a standalone monthly subscription for £6, while Prime — including all other services and faster deliveries — costs £9 per month or £95 per year.

“No action is required for Prime members,” the statement continues. “We’re not making changes in 2024 to the current price of Prime membership.

Jeremy Clarkson is a star of Amazon shows
Ian West / PA

“We will email Prime members several weeks before ads are introduced into Prime Video with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option if they would like.”

Sport on Prime, such as the ATP Tour, US Open tennis, and Premier League, already has advertising and this is set to continue to be the case.

Amazon generated $9.5 billion (£7.6 billion) in advertising revenue during the first three months of the year, mainly thanks to ads purchased by sellers on its cavernous shopping site.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in