It has been a year and a half since Amazon rolled out advertisements on Prime Video, compelling viewers who did not opt for the ad-free upgrade to watch commercials. Upon the introduction of ads, Amazon informed audiences that they would encounter only 2 to 3.5 minutes of advertisements per hour; however, Adweek indicates that the platform has stealthily increased its ad inventory in recent months.
What is the current ad count on Prime Video?
Adweek consulted with six advertising buyers and examined documents that indicated Prime Video currently broadcasts between 4 and 6 minutes of ads each hour. The publication even obtained an email from an Amazon employee to an ad buyer that included this statement: “Prime Video ad load has gradually increased to four to six minutes per hour.”
Importantly, Amazon did not directly notify subscribers about the increase in advertisements. Kelly Day, VP of Prime Video International, mentioned to the Financial Times late last year that the ad load for Prime Video was expected to “ramp up a little bit more into 2025,” but no specific details were given.
When asked about Day’s remarks, Amazon provided the following statement to Ars Technica, essentially confirming that additional ads were forthcoming: “We have not altered our plans to have significantly fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers and evaluate advertising volumes to help ensure we’re delivering a great customer experience.”
The path to this point
While most streaming services provide separate ad-supported and ad-free options, Prime Video opted for a different approach. One day in 2024, all Amazon Prime subscribers woke up to find ads on Prime Video. The sole method to eliminate them was to “upgrade to Prime Video Ad Free” for an extra $2.99 monthly on top of the $139 yearly Amazon Prime membership fee.
Initially, Amazon only displayed a few ads per hour to avoid alienating too many subscribers. This strategy proved successful, resulting in low churn rates. However, now that subscribers have become accustomed to ads, they likely wouldn’t mind one or two more each hour, right?
Prime Video previously had one of the lightest ad loads among streamers. Currently, Doug Paladino of the ad agency PMG tells Adweek that Prime Video is “firmly in that middle tier.”
