By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow on X.
Former editor of 4 TV magazines. Author of TV Dot Com.

Have you signed up for the ads-free version of Amazon’s Prime Video? If not, your Prime Video movies and TV shows will start including ads in just one day. Yes, Mrs. Maisel, Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan, and every other character on Prime Video will be spliced up with commercials just like regular old television.

Amazon announced last month that it will start showing ads with Prime Video shows and movies on January 29 unless you pay an extra $3 a month ($2.99 to be exact) to exclude them. The etailer first announced last September that the new ads-included version would be implemented in early 2024.

“This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” Amazon said in an e-mail send today to Prime subscribers.

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The company said the Prime Video shows and movies will include “limited advertisements,” but it did not specify how long the ads will be or how many will air per hour.  Regardless of the length, it’s likely that some viewers will get frustrated when they have to sit through spots for laundry detergent and male libido enhancers before getting to watch Jack Reacher kick some butt.

Amazon’s Prime Video, including Reacher, will soon include ads.

Making matters worse, it’s not easy to determine how to upgrade to the ads-free Prime Video at the Amazon site, although we finally found this page after several minutes of searching.

An Amazon Prime membership, which includes Prime Video, costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year. A membership plan to only Prime Video is $8.99 a month. (The Prime membership provides many more benefits, such as free two-day shipping.). The ads-free version will soon cost $11.99 a month if you purchase Prime Video separately. The $8.99 a month plan with ads, and the $11.99 a month plan without ads, are both priced comparably to other streaming services that offer both types of plans.

Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will soon be spliced with ads and that’s no joke.

The introduction of ads to Prime Video is another example of the streaming industry striving for new ways to generate revenue with losses piling up due to the high cost of programming. Netflix and Max have also introduced ads-included plans in the last several months.

Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.

The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.