Amazon Announces Prime Video With Ads, Ad-Free Price Plan

Amazon announced Friday it will launch an ad-free plan as it introduces ads to Prime Video in early 2024. The online retailer currently includes ad-free Prime Video as part of its Amazon Prime membership program ($14.99/month), or as a separate subscription ($8.99/month). Starting next year, Prime Video shows and movies will include “limited advertisements,” according to Amazon. While Amazon notes that it won’t raise the current price of Prime membership, it will offer the new ad-free option for an additional $2.99/month for U.S. Prime members. That means Prime members can continue to watch Amazon Prime Video with ads for $14.99/month, or upgrade to the ad-free option for $17.98 per month. 

In a notice posted on its website, Amazon said it is aiming “to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers” and that the streamer is introducing ads, plus the ad-free subscription, “to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.” Ads in Prime Video content will be introduced in the U.S., U.K.,Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain,Mexico, and Australia later in the year. Pricing for customers outside of the U.S. will be announced at a later date.

Prime members who do not wish to sign up for the $2.99/month ad-free Prime Video do not have to take any action, and Amazon will email members “several weeks” before ads appear on Prime Video with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option.

Amazon Prime Video subscriptions will continue to include access to the original series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Boys, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Citadel, Invincible, The Wheel of Time, Reacher, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and upcoming Boys spin-off Gen V, as well as the films Air, Creed III, and Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant.

Currently, Prime Video’s “free with ads” offerings are limited to Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV),its ad-supported video on-demand service, home of Freevee originals Bosch: Legacy, Jury Duty, Judy Justice, Tribunal Justice, the upcoming Cruel Intentions TV reboot, and the upcoming Who’s the Boss? sequel series.

Formerly ad-free rival streamers Netflix and Disney+ launched their ad-supported plans in 2022. Paramount+ With Showtime, Hulu, Max, Discovery+, and Peacock all offer ad-free options at extra cost; of the major streaming services, only Apple TV+ is commercial-free for all subscribers.

See the 50 best movies to watch now on Prime Video (September 2023).