Starting today, you’ll have to pay extra to stream Prime Video without ads

Amazon will interrupt this (and future) program(s) for a commercial break

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As of today, January 29, 2024,Amazon’s Prime Video subscription offering will become inundatedwith ads unless you pay an extra $2.99 in the US and £2.99in the UK a month to get rid of them – subscribers in Australia will also see a similar price rise (we don’t yet know how much) but that won’t be rolled out until later this year.

If you’re infuriated by the news, you’re not alone. As one of the few holdouts among thebest streaming servicesto not increase its subscription tiers last year, we had hoped that Prime Video might skip the subscription ad shakeup that Netflix, Max and Disney had jumped on last year, especially given it has a free ad-supported TV service called Freevee, but it appears financial pressures have taken hold.

The increase in price brings Prime Video’s subscription costs in line with thebest streaming services. Its ad-free plan now costs the same as Disney Plus, so it’s not the most expensive to subscribe to when compared to the likes of Netflix – although Max is slightly pricier still.

The news is a real drag for anyone who had been looking forward to streaming thebest Prime Video seriesorbest Prime Video movies, especially given that it has one of the larger content libraries out of the big streamers with loads ofnew Prime Video moviesalways being added to the service.

However, considering thatAmazon recently laid off “several hundred'” employeesfrom its streaming division, it appears the streamer is having to make some serious cost cutting decisions. Whether this will translate into a reduced production and acquisition slate is still up in the air.

An unwanted Amazon delivery

The rollout of a more expensive subscription tier comes off the back of Netflix confirming that it willditch its cheapest ad-free planglobally, following the successful release of its ad-supported tier in November 2023, which attractedmore than eight million new signupsin just two months. That means that Netflix with ads now accounts for 10% of its total subscribers.

Amazon is hoping that it will see similar success with Prime Video. In fact, analysts have already been speculating what type of return this could bring with Lloyd Walmsely, an industry analyst at UBS, estimating that itcould net as much as $6 billion every yearfor new signups to its plan without ads.

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While that’s great news for Amazon, there’s no certainty about what this will mean for subscribers. Perhaps it’s time to start subscription hopping, which one of our writers foundcut their streaming bills by 75%, or switching to Amazon’s free streaming service, Freevee, which sawmore than 100 Prime Video originals added to itlast year.

Otherwise, the only other two options Prime Video subscribers have if they don’t want to watch commercials is either to increase their bills or cancel – here’show to cancel your Amazon Prime membershipif you think you’ll go down the latter route.

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Amelia became the Senior Editor for Home Entertainment at TechRadar in the UK in April 2023. With a background of more than eight years in tech and finance publishing, she’s now leading our coverage to bring you a fresh perspective on everything to do with TV and audio. When she’s not tinkering with the latest gadgets and gizmos in the ever-evolving world of home entertainment, you’ll find her watching movies, taking pictures and travelling.

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