Subscribers of Amazon’s Prime Video have yet one more month earlier than they begin seeing commercials — or must pay extra to keep away from them.
In an e-mail to subscribers this week, Amazon
AMZN,
stated “restricted ads” will air with films and TV reveals on Prime Video beginning Jan. 29.
“This may permit us to proceed investing in compelling content material and hold growing that funding over a protracted time period,” Amazon stated in its e-mail, including that it plans to point out “meaningfully fewer adverts” than linear TV or its streaming rivals. Amazon didn’t reply to a request for additional remark.
Whereas most streaming companies have added cheaper, ad-supported tiers over the previous couple of years, Amazon goes the other way, the place subscribers will see adverts by default and should pay an extra $2.99 a month to proceed to see commercial-free programming.
Rival ad-supported plans are additionally about half the worth of Prime Video’s $14.99 a month. Netflix’s
NFLX,
advert tier is $6.99 a month, for instance, and Disney+
DIS,
with adverts is $7.99 a month.
In 2022, Amazon spent about $16.6 billion on streaming content material, which incorporates licensing and manufacturing prices.
Amazon had introduced in September it will be including commercials within the new yr, however didn’t announce a beginning date on the time.
In October, Amazon reported third-quarter revenue of $9.9 billion, as income swelled to $143.1 billion, beating analysts’ expectations on each.
Amazon shares have jumped about 83% yr to this point.
