Amazon Prime Video subscribers in Britain have reacted with outrage when they were shown ads for the first time.
From today, millions of UK customers will see adverts at the start, end and even during their favorite shows and films.
And the only way to avoid these frustrating interruptions is to pay an additional $2.99 per month.
On social media, many frustrated Amazon subscribers have labeled the streaming service as “greedy.”
Some have even threatened to cancel their accounts over the change, with one writing: “I’m definitely going to make sure this is the last month on Amazon.”
Amazon Prime Video subscribers in Britain have reacted with outrage when they were shown ads for the first time
On social media, Amazon Prime Video subscribers have reacted with outrage to the changes. Some have labeled the move as greedy, while others say they don’t want to pay extra to go ad-free
Last year, Amazon announced it would start including ads in its Prime Video streaming service.
The change only takes effect in Britain today, a week after US customers first started seeing ads.
However, Amazon Prime Video customers have already reacted indignantly to the changes on social media.
One irate customer wrote to
The changes prompted one commentator to ask, “How greedy can you be?”
Meanwhile, another wrote: ‘@amazon is just getting greedy. The only reason for the Prime was all the features included, now it’s just a shipping service.”
Some commentators denounced Amazon’s changes on social media, calling the decision to include ads “disgusting behavior” and wondering “how greedy can you be?”
Amazon Prime Video is one of the extras that comes free with an Amazon Prime subscription, and there will be no change to the service’s monthly prices.
This means existing customers will continue to pay £8.99 ($11.34) per month or £95 (£119.87) per year for the service.
To continue viewing the service ad-free, customers must now purchase an additional subscription for £2.99/month or £35.88/year.
This brings the total cost of a subscription to just under £12/month.
Many commenters on
Other Amazon Prime Video subscribers wrote that they would rather cancel their subscription entirely, rather than see ads or pay more to remove them
One commenter wrote: “Would you like to pay an additional $2.99 to remove the ads we have now included in your paid service?” No, I wouldn’t, Amazon. If you make enough money, leave.”
Another said they were “about to cancel Amazon Prime because they want to be greedy.”
One frustrated commenter shared an image from their Amazon Prime Video account, offering them the choice to go “ad-free.”
In a post on
“I think it’s time to cancel altogether and spend my money elsewhere.”
Other users were more blunt, simply writing, “I will not be renewing Prime on my next annual renewal.”
“If I have to pay for ads, why do I pay for the streaming service? I’ll just use an adblocker for a month and then cancel,” wrote another.
The changes to Amazon Prime Video come after both Netflix and Disney+ introduced advertising to their streaming service.
However, the main difference between their approaches is that these services both introduced a cheaper plan that included ads instead of making ads standard.
Social media users wondered why it would be worth paying more for the quality of service they received until recently
Amazon’s decision follows similar moves by Netflix and Disney+, both of which have added cheaper subscriptions that include ads (stock image)
Netflix introduced a cheaper, ad-supported plan that customers could buy for £4.99 per month.
Similarly, Disney+ introduced an ad tier, first to US users in December 2022, and then in the UK and eight other European countries in November, also for £4.99 per month.
The total cost of an Amazon Prime subscription plus the extra cost to go ad-free will also be more expensive than a standard Netflix account or Premium Disney+ account, both of which cost £10.99 per month and come with no ads.
Amazon also notes that paying to go ad-free won’t remove all ads from the platform.
Some titles still contain “promotional trailers shown before a movie or TV show,” which can be skipped with a paid ad-free subscription.
In addition, live events, such as sporting events, and any content served through Amazon Freevee, where available, will continue to contain advertisements.