Starting in late January, Amazon Prime Video subscribers will need to pay an additional $3 a month to watch without commercial interruptions.
The change leaves Apple TV+ as one of the few video streaming services that doesn’t charge extra to avoid adverts.
Escaping Amazon Prime Video ads will cost $3 more
Amazon Prime Video is the second-most-popular streaming service, with about 200 million subscribers worldwide. It includes series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, all of which are watchable on Apple TV, Mac, iPad, iPhone and many other devices.
The streaming service soon will require users to pay more to watch without commercials.
“Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements,” Amazon said in an email to customers and on its website. “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
Avoiding these ads will cost an additional $2.99 per month. Interested subscribers can sign up now, ahead of the debut of adverts.
Note that this comes on top of the regular cost of Amazon Prime Video: $9 per month. The streaming service (with ads) is also included in a $14.99-per-month subscription to Amazon Prime.
Commercials popping up all over
Hulu pioneered giving subscribers the option to watch adverts and pay less for its streaming content. Some of its biggest rivals resisted, but eventually, both Netflix and Disney+ announced ad-supported plans. Max and Paramount+ hopped on the bandwagon, too.
At this point, Apple TV+ remains a standout. It costs only $9.99 per month, and its series and films are never interrupted by commercials.
For now, anyway. The company reportedly is talking to media agencies about adding adverts. This means the Mac-maker is likely considering creating a cheaper, ad-supported tier for Apple TV+.
