Amazon's Prime Video streaming service will include ads beginning in early 2024, the company announced. — Photography Patrick T. FALLON/AFP
Amazon's Prime Video streaming service will include ads beginning in early 2024, the company announced Friday, following competitors in seeking to squeeze new revenue out of the burgeoning industry.
"To continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time, starting in early 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements," Amazon said in a statement.
The ad-supported offer will kick off in the US, UK, Germany and Canada early next year, before France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia during 2024, the company said.
The price of the standard Prime subscription will remain unchanged, however like on competing platforms, subscribers will be able to opt for ad-free content with an additional fee.
In addition to the streaming service, Amazon Prime subscribers also gain access to a an array of other perks, such as expedited shipping and discounts.
The supplemental ad-free fee will be US$2.99 (about RM14) per month in the United States, Amazon said, with the prices in other countries announced at a later date.
Last year, Disney+ launched an ad-supported subscription in the United States, which is cheaper than the ad-free subscription, and then extended it to Europe. One of its main rivals, Netflix, has also launched this type of offer worldwide.
Amazon said it hopes to have "meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers."
Streaming platforms are hoping to bring in new lines of revenue with less expensive ad-supported offers to supplement slowing subscriber growth, as well as by cracking down on password sharing between users.
Disney announced in August that it had lost subscribers for a third consecutive quarter, but promised to focus on tackling password sharing.
Rival Netflix reported that its subscriptions climbed by nearly six million to a record high in the wake of its own crackdown. – AFP Relaxnews
