Back when the Streaming Wars began, studios like Netflix had pie-in-the-sky ambitions about streaming movies and TV shows to people without the interruption of commercials. That worked out well for awhile, with newcomers like Disney+ and Max following Netflix's example to stream content without ads, giving people a premium experience they couldn't get on normal TV.
But there were problems, namely that making movies and TV is expensive and commercials bring in money. Recently, streaming services have been coming to grips with the facts that the no-ad model may not work for their bottom line; more and more have introduced ad tiers, where customers pay a lower monthly fee to access the service in exchange for watching commercials during streaming.
Now, in comes Amazon with an innovation: according to a letter sent to subscribers, ads will start running on Prime Video shows and movies starting January 29. And this is on the normal $15/month tier, which is already on the higher end when it comes to streaming services. Subscribers can opt out of ads for an extra $3/month, but I have to wonder if we aren't approaching a time when we have to watch ads no matter how much we pay per month. At this point, Apple TV+ is the only streaming service with no ad tier whatsoever.
In its letter, Amazon wrote that running more ads "will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time." That makes sense; if any company is in need of investment money, it's shipping giant Amazon right after the holiday season. "We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers," the letter continued. Ah, but for how long?
There are some caveats to the announcement: you won't have to watch ads on movies or content you've rent or bought, nor if you live in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam or the Mariana Islands. Still, this news adds legitimacy to critiques that streaming services, once seen as disruptive to the cable model of TV, have been slowly morphing into cable packages in recent years.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels