Amazon Prime is about to cost more for UK subscribers who want to watch Prime Video without ads. Amazon will start showing “limited advertisements” on its streaming service from Monday 5 February for customers who continue to pay £8.99 for Prime, while an optional £2.99 charge will turn Prime Video ad-free.
It’s a change that means Amazon Prime Video will cost £11.98 per month to watch with no ads, a price higher than that of rivals Netflix and Disney+, which cost £10.99 and £7.99 respectively for monthly ad-free subscriptions.
Amazon initially announced the change back in December but it’s this week that the change will come into effect.
“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 September 2023 blog post. “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
The firm said it would not show ads on children’s profiles or children’s content on Prime Video even if the user has not paid extra to strip the service of ads, while sporting events will always show ads even if the extra £2.99 has been paid.
Despite costing less than Amazon Prime Video, rivals Netflix and Disney+ have also raised the prices of their ad-free tiers in recent months. Both offer £4.99 that include ads, meaning Prime Video costs £4 more with ads, but the Prime service does get you free one-day delivery on Amazon, access to Amazon Music, and other perks.
Apple charges £8.99 per month for its Apple TV+ service, which has no third party ads. It doesn’t have a cheaper tier.
Ads have always blighted the user experience of Amazon products including its Fire tablets and Kindle ereaders. The company often makes you purchase more expensive versions of its hardware if you want them without adverts for books, films, and other items on the lockscreens. Amazon’s Fire tablets also do not allow you to install Google apps, and serve as windows into Amazon’s digital services only.
