Amazon.com said Friday that it intends to add advertising to Prime Video next year. It’s the latest streaming service to turn to ads to drive extra revenue, joining Netflix and Walt Disney’s Disney+.
Amazon
(ticker: AMZN) said advertising would be introduced to Prime Video in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by a range of other markets. It said it would offer an ad-free option for U.S. Prime members for an additional $2.99 a month, with pricing for other countries to be determined later.
“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.,” Amazon said in its statement. The company also said it doesn’t intend to change the price of Prime membership in 2024 in the U.S.
That means that in the U.S., the cost of Prime Video with advertising will be included in the $14.99 monthly Prime membership or a $139 annual subscription, excluding any discounted offers.
That compares with
Netflix
‘s (NFLX) $6.99-a-month ad-supported plan or $7.99 a month for
Disney
‘s (DIS) basic Disney+ service with ads, although of course Prime membership comes with plenty of other services from Amazon.
For the ad-free option, Prime Video will effectively cost $17.98 a month, or just more than $14.57 a month for those with an annual Prime membership.
Netflix offers its ad-free standard plan at $15.49 a month, as well as a $19.99 a month premium plan that includes more simultaneous streams and better video quality. The latest price for the Disney+ ad-free option from Oct. 12 is $13.99 a month, or $139.99 with an annual subscription, with more expensive bundles available that include Hulu and ESPN+.
Amazon shares were up 0.9% in premarket trading at $130.53. Netflix shares were up 0.3% and Disney was up 0.2%.
Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]
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