Date set for major change to Amazon Prime viewing experience that has people cancelling their subscriptions
The date has been shared for the big change to Amazon Prime Video that had customers vowing to cancel their subscriptions.
In case you missed it, the streaming giant, which is home to original content including The Boys, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and Clarkson's Farm, announced a fairly controversial move last month.
Customers were sent an email alerting them to ‘an update on Prime Video’, which detailed that for the first time ever, the streaming platform would be including adverts on shows and movies.
Advert
The email went on: “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership.”
However, if customers want to remain ad-free, they will be asked to stump up an extra £2.99 (or $2.99 in the US) for the privilege.
As you can imagine, the news went down like a lead balloon with subscribers, with some vowing to cancel their subscription once adverts were included.
In a post on Reddit one angry Prime Video customer wrote: “This is bull s**t if you have an existing annual membership - they shouldn't be able to change it until your current membership renews.”
Another said: “And I just cancelled. Got a refund for the rest of my year's subscription.”
Taking to X, a fellow disgruntled subscriber added: “Absolute f**king gall of adding adverts to a subscription I already pay for, then adding that I can pay more on top of my subscription to get rid of them.”
A second commented: “I hope the news of @AmazonUK adding adverts to Amazon Prime is not true. Been a customer for many years but will that will end if i have to sit through ads.”
Someone else penned: “So, that's me getting rid of Amazon Prime then. Limited TV and movie offerings and now adverts.”
As yet, nothing has changed with Amazon Prime, but our friends in the US will start to see adverts while streaming from the 29 January.
Meanwhile, in the UK, it’s a little bit further out, with Amazon telling subscribers the adverts will be shown from 5 February.
The decision follows a similar move from Netflix, which introduced a lower-priced tier for customers who were happy to sit through ads.
Topics: UK News, TV and Film, Amazon Prime
Claire Reid