The Amazon Prime Video ads are now a reality in Spain. From Tuesday April 9th, users of the platform who do not want advertising to appear on their screens will have to pay 1.99 euros a month.
The decision to include advertising on Prime Video became official a few months ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. These ads first appeared in the United States, but the Andy Jassy-led company confirmed they would also appear in additional countries in the coming months. Finally, January 29, 2024 was chosen for the implementation of the measure in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Now for every hour of content playback on the platform Two to three minutes of advertising will be played. This means that after watching an episode of a series, in many cases a few commercials will appear between each episode, for example.
In an email to users last February, Amazon emphasized the following: “This allows us to continue to invest in attractive content, to further increase these investments in the long term and thus maintain the quality and quantity of content on Prime Video.and emphasized that “Our goal is to have significantly less advertising than linear TV and other streaming services«.
Ad Removal Fees
In this sense, Prime Video customers who do not want to see advertising must pay a surcharge of 1.99 euros per month. Therefore, the cost of the subscription increases to 6.98 euros per month. This amount will be credited to both standard accounts and “student” accounts, which are intended for students and enjoy a 50% bonus.
It should be noted that there is no discount on this surcharge when paying for the service annually. This means that if the user decides to pay the 49.90 euros that the 12-month Amazon Prime subscription costs in one go, You also have to pay 1.99 euros per month.
It is obvious that this new Amazon plan was not well received by users and has been at the center of controversy since its implementation. In mid-February, subscribers themselves filed a lawsuit against the company founded by Jeff Bezos over advertising.deceptive«.
The main accusation was: Amazon’s alleged fraudulent strategy. Specifically, these customers have been claiming for years that Prime Video was promoted as a platform “ad-freeThey therefore consider that the new plan with advertisements “contradicts the approach with which they have sold their services for years”, an aspect that could be considered advertising.deceptive«.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen a platform opt for advertising, and Amazon Prime Video wouldn’t be the only subscription service to opt for a plan with advertising, as they make use of it Netflix, for 5.49 euros per monthAnd Disney+for a fee of 5.99 euros per month.