Excited Prime Video exec announces even more ads are coming
Admittedly, the Amazon VP was talking to advertisers, not consumers, while effusing about how the streamer's ad load will "ramp up a little bit more into 2025"
Photo: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Great news for anyone who’s spent time recently watching the fine television programming available on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service—elves, dwarves, and such other exciting ephemera—and caught themselves thinking “Boy, I sure could use a break!” Amazon has heard you, dear viewer, and it has just the answer to your exhausting conundrum: More commercials.
Yes, the gradual transformation of streaming TV back into regular-ass TV is set to get a little less gradual-er in the near future, as Amazon made it clear today that it’s going to be adding in even more ads while you’re watching TV shows through your Prime account. Per Financial Times, the service’s initial roll-out of ad-supported content eight months ago has gone surprisingly well, from an “Everyone is too tired to get mad about this anymore” perspective, and so Amazon has decided to do that thing corporations do, i.e., ramp up the unpleasantness until we all boil in our own imperceptibly hot frog water.
Details about the upswing in mandatory bathroom breaks weren’t available, but an Amazon vice president announced that ad load would “ramp up a little bit more into 2025.” (Because said exec was speaking for advertising executives as the streamer heads into international upfront meetings in London, this was presented as a plus!) Of course, you can always choose to skip the ads by paying an extra $3 a month (on top of the $15 a month you’re already paying for Prime), although Amazon notes in that same conversation that a surprisingly small number of its listless, beaten-down customers—ourselves included—have mustered the energy to make the effort. (To be fair, there are ongoing class action lawsuits running about the decision to switch to ad-supported, but god, who has the energy?)
Updated: An Amazon spokesperson has now responded to this story, issuing a statement that, if we’re parsing it correctly, basically adds up to “Still less ads than the networks and other streamers.” Here’s the full statement: “We have not changed our plans to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers, and evaluate advertising volumes to help ensure we’re delivering a great customer experience.”