By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow on X.
Former editor of 4 TV magazines. Author of TV Dot Com.
Amazon today will begin showing ads with its Prime Video service unless you agree to pay an extra $2.99 a month for an ads-free version. The $2.99 a month is in addition to the cost of the $14.99 a month Amazon Prime membership, which includes Prime Video. (The Amazon Prime membership is available annually for $139.)
The ads-free Prime Video now costs $11.99 a month if you purchase Prime Video separately. The $8.99 a month plan with ads, and the $11.99 plan without ads, are both priced comparably to other streaming services that offer both types of plans. The full Prime membership without ads will now cost $17.98 a month or almost $175 for an annual sub.
Amazon promises that the ads will be limited and short and are necessary to allow the company to continue investing in original programming.
“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.
See more news and TV tech features at TVAnswerMan.com.
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.
Morgan Stanley estimates that Prime Video will collect $3.3 billion in ad revenue this year with the number growing to more than $7 billion by 2026.
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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.
