Amazon Prime Video subscribers are about to see even more ads. In January, viewers who didn't pay an additional $3 a month started to see commercials. Now, Amazon has announced that it's adding what it describes as shoppable carousel ads, interactive pause ads and interactive brand trivia ads. Here's more from Ars Technica. We want to know, have you, or will you ditch streaming services as they start to add commercials?
Streaming services that have added ads had better watch their backs: 52% of the people who voted in this poll say they've already dropped a provider because of ads and 36% say they're considering it. Some respondents cited the speedy delivery services as a reason to keep Prime. However, @FediThing points out that Amazon has started charging extra for that in some countries (for example, if you spend under £20 on an order in the U.K., you'll need to pay £1.99 for same-day delivery), so keep an eye on your bills.
@CultureDesk We still have Prime but I haven’t watched 1 minute of content on Prime Video once ads were announced. Live in a city so may ditch Prime, too, since shipping is still plenty fast.
@CultureDesk I always forget Amazon even has a video streaming service. The main reason I like Amazon Prime is 1. free shipping and 2. free subscription every month on Twitch to support a Twitch streamer
@CultureDesk Higher price = more critical about which ones are essential
Previously: have netflix permanently. Status=happy
Now: netflix' collection got cut up into five other services and the price of only netflix increased, so now I've got a few months of this, a few months of that. Status=mediocre
Is that due to ads? No. Anything with ads, if I need it I'll just pay more, and if I didn't need it I'd not have it anyway. So a combo of answers 1 and 3 maybe?
@CultureDesk I voted "something else" because I'm unwilling to pay for streaming, ads or no ads. I'll watch free platforms like Tubi because they're the closest to the older 20th century broadcast model.
Over the past five years, they've made my Amazon branded TV significantly slower and laden with ads. Can't even turn it on anymore without a full screen ad getting in the way of using the TV!
And, over the past year, they've decided that me paying for content isn't good enough. They want me to pay AND see these increasingly awful, intrusive ads.
Said goodbye months ago and the decision looks more right as time passes...
@CultureDesk
I would agree, except that you get Prime video for free with Prime delivery service, which means it is basically free if you are a regular Amazon shopper.