Update: Crave says ads are not coming and this was an error. Our original story is as follows.
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It appears Bell Media’s Crave streaming service has started to show ads on Amazon Fire TV devices, according to numerous reports on the web.
iPhone in Canada reader Brian let us know users this week started seeing ads on their Fire TV devices, within the Crave app.
One user detailed, “On my Amazon Fire Stick when I use Crave, there are ads…I thought they were ad free? (Maybe it’s just a fire stick thing?)”.
Ads seen were not in-house ads promoting content, but rather a CTV ad and also a water bottle recycling ad. Another user said they saw an RBC ad as well while watching within the Crave app.
Other users on RFD noted recent Crave gift card subscriptions may now also be including ads.
“Watching Letter Kenny on Crave last night via my Fire Stick, and I was forced to watch an ad before the show would start (inside the Crave app, not an Amazon ad). Never had this before, first time was last night. Anyone else seen this?”
As expected, paying Crave customers are not happy about this. “Glad my [subscription] expires in a couple days. Will not be renewing if they’re going to start forcing ads on me.”
It’s unclear if ads are showing for everyone, or if Bell Media is testing ads on a subsection of users. We’ve reached out to the company for clarification and will update this story accordingly.
Update Jan. 7: A Crave representative told iPhone in Canada the following statement: “Recently, some Crave users may have noticed ads on Crave programming on Amazon Fire TV. This was done in error and was disabled shortly after. We are not running ads on Crave.”
