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.
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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