Last week, it was announced that Amazon’s Prime Video would start showing ad breaks in Canada on February 5, 2023.
On Tuesday morning, Prime Video emailed out customers detailing the new ad breaks, according to an email received by iPhone in Canada.
On February 5, Prime Video will begin showing limited advertisements in movies and TV shows. This move is aimed at allowing Amazon to continue investing in high-quality content and increase that investment over time, explained the company.
“This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” explained the email from Amazon. The company also assured that the number of ads would be “meaningfully fewer” than traditional TV and other streaming TV providers.
Despite the introduction of ads, there will be no change to the current price of the Prime membership. However, Amazon is offering a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 CAD per month for those who prefer an uninterrupted viewing experience. Members interested in this ad-free service can sign up through the link provided in the email today to pre-order the experience. That’s an extra $36 plus tax per year to go ad-free in Canada.
Amazon again highlighted the value of Prime membership, which includes a wide range of benefits such as free Prime shipping on over 20 million items, access to exclusive streaming content like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “The Boys,” and live sports events like ONE Championship. Additionally, members have access to Prime Video Channels, Amazon Music Prime, Amazon Photos, Prime Gaming, Prime Reading, and a one-year DashPass membership trial.
No action is required unless they choose to sign up for the ad-free option, said Amazon. The email concluded with a note of appreciation for the members’ continued support and a promise of additional features and programs in the future.
Ads are the future folks, unless you open your wallet it seems. For those who shop a lot on Amazon with Prime, it’s hard to go back to non-Prime shipping speeds.
While the U.S. starts ads within Prime Video on January 29, Canada will begin on February 5.
Live event content, such as sports, will continue to include advertising–even with the ad-free subscription, noted Amazon in a footnote.
Will you be subscribing to ad-free Prime Video for $3 per month?
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…and potentially, ‘meaningfully fewer’ subscribers.
I for one have started that trend in advance of Amazon.
Honestly, if they offered a discounted Prime subscription without Prime Video, I’d take it!
I was already strongly considering dropping my Prime subscription this month (just don’t need any more ‘stuff’…), and I believe this email cinched it for me.
Torrents = Commercial Free