Amazon has confirmed plans to introduce adverts to its Prime Video streaming service this year. Customers will see the ads unless they pay extra for an ad-free experience.
Customers in the US and Canada will see ads from 29 January, while those in Germany and the UK will see limited ads from 5 February. Amazon plans to expand them to France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in 2024.
Customers in the UK can pay £2.99 per month to remove the commercials. In the US the cost is $2.99.
Amazon said the move would “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,” the company added.
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It said even if people pay to remove ads, live content such as sports will continue to include advertising.
Streaming rivals such as Netflix and Disney have already introduced cheaper ad-supported streaming packages in an attempt win over cost-conscious consumers.
However, Amazon’s tier with ads is not cheaper and customers will have to instead pay more to watch without.
Amazon’s Prime subscription costs £8.99 a month or £95 a year in the UK. The company said it would not be changing the price of the service this year, unless customers opted to pay the extra for the ad-free option.
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