Amazon has announced that its Prime Video streaming service will be joining rivals NOW, Disney+ and Netflix in placing adverts within shows and films unless customers pay extra to remove them.
The changes come into effect from early 2024, with users in the UK, US, Germany, and Canada the first to have their viewing interrupted, followed by those in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year.
The news was announced in a post on Amazon’s official blog which stated:
“To continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time, starting in 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements in the UK.
“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required for Prime members. We’re not making changes in 2024 to the current price of Prime membership.
“We will also offer a new ad-free option and will share the price of that optionat a later date. We will email Prime members several weeks before ads are introduced into Prime Video with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option if they would like.”