Amazon Prime Video To Include Ads On Shows, Movies

SUMMARY

The company said that it will also introduce a new "ad free" add-on option for an additional INR 699 per year or INR 129 per month, leading to an uproar from its userbase

The ad-supported content for Amazon Prime Video is active since over a year and the company had plans to expand this service to Brazil, India, Japan in 2025

In the heated Indian OTT space, JioHotstar, Sony LIV, Zee5 are key players that already have ad-supported plans in place

After an eight-month notice period, OTT platform Amazon Prime Video has said it will introduce “limited advertisements” on movies and TV shows starting June 17.

In an email to its customers, the company said that it will also introduce a new “ad free” add-on option for an additional INR 699 per year or INR 129 per month starting the day it introduces the ads on content.

Citing its rationale for the decision, Amazon said the move will allow it to increase its investments in content over “a long period of time”. “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than TV channels and other streaming services,” the mail read.

Besides, the company also noted that, barring the introduction of ad content, there will be no other changes to users’ Prime memberships.

Notably, Amazon launched ads on Amazon Prime in January 2024 in the US to offer marketers the opportunity to advertise across its full slate of premium content, including original series and films.

Earlier today, the company was reported to have said that its customer base for Prime Video streaming service with ads reaches about 130 Mn customers per month in the US.

The expansion of the ad-supported content is in line with its plans for 2025.

At its event “unBoxed 2024”, Amazon said that it will introduce limited advertisements on Prime Video in Brazil, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and New Zealand in 2025.

“The regional expansion of Prime Video ads will support the ongoing creation of compelling content over a long period of time and help brands of all sizes connect with new audiences in new countries,” the company said then.

However, the company’s decision to introduce ads on content seems to have left many users unhappy in India.

“What’s the point of subscription when I am seeing ads ?And what’s this new ad free sub? Is paying you for prime sub per year is not enough? Absolute mockery of consumers,” a post read on X.

It is pertinent to mention that ad-supported content has been there for some time for a few offerings of Amazon in India, like MX Player. In June 2024, the ecommerce giant “purchased some assets” of the video streaming platform in a deal that valued at about $100 Mn.

Besides, Amazon miniTV also streams “free, ad-supported content” within the Amazon shopping app.

The latest development comes at a time when competition is heating up in the Indian OTT space. The merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar has created a behemoth, JioHotstar. Besides, Prime Video competes with Netflix, Zee5, Sony LIV, among others.

JioHotstar, which had a paid subscriber base of over 28 Cr at the end of the March quarter, offers multiple ad-supported plans for mobile – INR 149 for 3 months or INR 499 per year, INR 299 per quarter or INR 899 per year for multiple devices, and a premium ad-free plan for INR 299 per month.

Meanwhile, Zee5 and Sony LIV also have ad-supported subscription plans.