Under one of the proposals reportedly being considered by Amazon, existing Prime subscribers could be shown more adverts unless they paid for an ad-free alternative.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), there’s demand from advertisers to access some of the previously ad-free Amazon exclusives. And Amazon itself is looking to boost revenue from its business.
In the UK, Prime Video has been praised for its coverage of the Premier League. Other popular titles include Clarkson’s Farm and The Marvellous Mrs Maisel. Current exclusives include movie The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser.
While live sports coverage on Prime Video already is subject to ads, most of the rest of Amazon Prime Video’s content library comes ad-free, apart from promotions from Amazon.
Amazon’s Freevee service already includes advertising.
Currently, Amazon Prime customers can access Prime Video through a Prime subscription, which includes expediated delivery from Amazon’s online store. But Amazon was already forced to increase prices last year as the cost of delivery and the cost of acquiring broadcast rights continued to climb.
This year though, consumers are eagerly cutting back on services following increases in the cost of living, meaning further price rises may result in a loss of custom.
- One option would be to offer a cheaper ad tier to lure in more customers, or retain customers not willing to pay the current rate.
- Another option would see existing customers beginning to see more adverts appear on Prime Video, unless they paid extra to go ad-free.
The WSJ also reports Amazon has been holding discussions with Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount+ about bringing ad-based tiers of their streaming services through Prime Video Channels. Amazon users can already subscribe to ad-free versions of Discovery+ and Paramount+ via Prime Video Channels.
Marc Thornham