Prime Video quietly doubled the variety of advertisements on their lowest tier

Abstract

In 2024, Amazon launched advertisements on Prime Video, charging viewers $3 a month to go ad-free.
Amazon is reportedly doubling the quantity of advertisements on Prime Video, going from 2 to three.5 minutes per hour, to 4 to six minutes per hour.
Amazon is probably going doing this to extend its income from advertisements and to encourage extra folks to pay its $3 charge to go ad-free.

Lately, a notable development in streaming has been the emergence of ad-supported tiers. Virtually all main streaming platforms, together with Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Max, now provide an ad-supported tier that sometimes prices a number of {dollars} lower than an ad-free one.

In early 2024, Amazon adopted the lead of different streaming companies and launched advertisements on Prime Video, charging viewers $3 monthly to choose out of them. Understandably, this upset many individuals who had been already paying $15 a month for Amazon Prime, solely to have a number of advert breaks throughout their TV present or film.

One small silver lining Prime Video had with their preliminary implementation of advertisements is that they solely had about two to three-and-a-half minutes of advertisements per hour, which meant they had been much less disruptive than a few of the advertisements seen on different streaming companies. Nevertheless, that not appears to be the case.

In accordance with Adweek, Amazon has quietly elevated the variety of advertisements on Prime Video, from two to three-and-a-half minutes per hour, to 4 to 6 minutes per hour. Adweek cites an electronic mail it obtained from an Amazon consultant to an advert purchaser, which says: “Prime Video advert load has steadily elevated to 4 to 6 minutes per hour.”

So, in the event you’ve been noticing extra advertisements on Prime Video currently, it is completely intentional, because it appears Amazon is making an attempt to promote firms extra advertisements to run on Prime Video.

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Is Amazon making an attempt to persuade extra folks to go ad-free?

Extra advertisements will undoubtedly negatively impression the viewing expertise

Amazon/Pocket-lint

Since Amazon launched advertisements on Prime Video in 2024, I’ve largely resisted the urge to pay the $3 month-to-month charge to go ad-free. More often than not, once I watched an hour-long present, I solely bought about three advertisements, and I did not thoughts it because it often gave me a second to seize a drink or verify my cellphone anyway, they usually did not interrupt the viewing expertise too badly. Nevertheless, doubling that might simply ruin the experience.

Amazon has not publicly introduced any plans to double advertisements for customers. Nonetheless, Adweek reviews that it advised buyers it will enhance the stock of advertisements accessible on the market on Prime Video to develop its streaming enterprise additional.

For me and anybody else on the market who usually watches Prime Video, this merely sucks.

Adweek additionally spoke to Kendra Tang, a programmatic supervisor at Rain the Development Company, who mentioned Amazon advised them “the advert load can be rising” and that it is “been confirmed lately after we observed extra avails within the system.” In an announcement from Amazon, it averted saying whether or not it has elevated its advert load, as an alternative stating it is centered on “enhancing advert experiences.”

“Our dedication is to enhancing advert experiences moderately than merely rising the variety of advertisements proven,” mentioned an Amazon Advertisements spokesperson to Adweek. “Whereas demand continues to develop, our dedication is to enhancing advert experiences moderately than merely rising the variety of advertisements proven.”

The rationale Amazon would enhance the advert load is a two-pronged reply. One: to extend income and promote extra advertisements to firms. Two: to persuade extra folks to pay $3 for the ad-free choice. Prime Video presently prices $9 a month by itself, or $15 a month when you have it included with Amazon Prime. Including the ad-free tier, the service prices $12 a month with out Prime and $18 a month with it.

For me and anybody else on the market who usually watches Prime Video, this merely sucks. It signifies that something you watch on the service from Amazon can be interrupted by extra advertisements, resulting in extra disruptions throughout necessary moments in what you are watching.