Amazon Prime Video is set to integrate ads in 2024, introducing a higher-priced ad-free tier, in a move that mirrors its streaming rivals Netflix and Walt Disney. The move comes as the streaming industry faces a slowdown in subscriber growth following the pandemic.
Amazon announced Friday that the ads will roll out to the US, UK, Germany and Canada initially in 2024, with France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia to follow later this year. The ad-free tier in the US will cost an additional $2.99 per month, up from the current Prime membership of $14.99 per month or $139 per year. Pricing for other regions will be revealed later.
These adjustments come after Netflix and Walt Disney instituted similar strategies, aiming to boost advertising revenue to offset sluggish subscriber growth. However, growth in ad-supported plans has been tepid. To boost subscriptions, Netflix has abolished its basic ad-free plan in the US and UK, and Disney has increased the prices of its ad-free tiers.
Despite opting for the ad-free plan, Amazon will continue to show ads on live events like the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. Amazon ended 2022 with 168 million Prime members in the US, according to Business Insider, although the company does not disclose specific Prime membership numbers. After two uninspiring earnings reports, Amazon saw a pick-up in quarterly sales and profit growth in August, seeing improvements in e-commerce and cloud computing, sending the company’s stock higher 0.8% in pre-market trading on Friday.
This article is sourced from and written by AI.
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