As the seasons change, there are certainties that come with it. The air gets colder, the leaves change colors, and your favorite streaming service will try some new in order to squeeze just a few more bucks out of you in the coming year. It’s the American way.
The latest culprit is Amazon Prime, which is joining Disney+, Netflix, and Max in bringing in commercials to their formerly ad-free shows. Streaming sounds more and more like cable these days, yes? Amazon is gearing up to include “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers” on Prime Video, though the main difference is that the ad-supported tier will now be the default, and if you want no ads, you’ll have to pay a little more.
The update will begin early next year, and your normal Prime payment won’t increase, though if you want to go ad-free, the price will jump an extra $2.99 per month, or about $36 per year. Right now, the annual payment is $139 for no ads and an unlimited view of John Krasinski’s face if that’s what you so choose to do. Ads will also be shown during movies, though Amazon claims that there will only be a “limited” number, and hopefully, they won’t interrupt the horror movie jump scare you’ve been waiting for.
The good news is that Freevee, Amazon’s free ad-tiered streaming service is still kicking with no changes, other than the fact that they recently took Mad Men off the service. You can’t win ’em all.
