Prime Video users will start seeing adverts from 5 February, unless they pay an additional £2.99 a month.
The online giant has emailed Prime Video members to inform them about the upcoming change. Prime Video is part of Amazon Prime but can also be subscribed to separately.
An Amazon Prime membership currently costs £8.99 a month, or £95 if you pay for the year upfront. It’s £5.99 a month for just Prime Video.
An email to Amazon Prime members said: “We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting February 5, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements.
“This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than ad-supported TV channels and other streaming TV providers.
“No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional £2.99 per month that you can sign up for here.”
The email includes a link where Amazon Prime members can pre-order the ad-free service.
Amazon Prime is following other streaming services in offering more expensive ad-free viewing options.
A shake-up of Disney Plus pricing in November saw it introduce a “standard with ads” plan for £4.99 a month, while the standard service without ads costs £7.99 a month.
Netflix added a cheaper plan with ads in July 2023. New members can sign up for an “ad-supported” £4.99 a month plan. A standard plan without ads now costs £10.99 a month for new subscribers – although existing members before last July are still paying £6.99 a month.
