Amazon Prime Video to include ads in 2024 — unless users pay $2.99 a month to get rid of them

Amazon has announced that television shows and movies on its Prime Video service will start including “limited advertisements” early next year in order for the company to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.” 

Prime Video, which Amazon says has been expanded “to offer hit movies, great shows, award-winning Amazon Originals, and live sports,” currently costs $8.99 per month or is included for free in Amazon Prime memberships, which are $14.99 monthly or $139.99 annually. 

The e-commerce giant said Friday, “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.” 

“Ads in Prime Video content will be introduced in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year,” it added. 

NETFLIX SIGN-UPS STILL STRONG DESPITE PASSWORD SHARING CRACKDOWN 

“No action is required for Prime members. We’re not making changes in 2024 to the current price of Prime membership,” Amazon continued. “We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month for U.S. Prime members and will share pricing for other countries at a later date.” 

Live sports, such as Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football NFL games, will continue to have ads. 

The planned changes come as prices for some competing streaming services are on the rise. 

DISNEY TO UP STREAMING PRICES. WHAT DO COMPETING SERVICES CHARGE FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS 

In August, for the second time in a year, Disney announced it is raising the prices of its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans. 

The company announced that the ad-free version of Disney+ will increase to $13.99 per month starting October 12, up from the current $10.99 per month. For Hulu, the ad-free version will rise to $17.99 per month, up from its ongoing $14.99 offering. 

Meanwhile, Netflix reportedly experienced a strong level of U.S. sign-ups in July, a signal that its ongoing efforts to curb password-sharing have not deterred subscribers from joining the streaming service. 

In late May, Warner Bros. Discovery’s new streaming platform bringing together HBO Max and Discovery+ content, Max, went live with three different membership plans: Max with Ads, which is $9.99 per month, the Max Ad-Free plan for $15.99 per month or the Ultimate Ad-Free plan for $19.99 per month, which allows up to four devices to stream at once and offers 4K UHD with Dolby Atmos on select titles. 

FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.