Amazon (AMZN) has announced plans to place advertisements on its Prime Video streaming service beginning in 2024.
Advertisements will begin showing up on all Prime Video television shows and movies starting early next year unless subscribers pay an extra fee to avoid seeing them.
Amazon said the advertisements will be first introduced in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with plans to roll them out to other jurisdictions throughout the year.
To avoid seeing the advertisements, Amazon Prime members will have to pay an additional fee of $2.99 U.S. per month. Prime subscriptions in America currently costs $14.99 U.S. per month or $139 U.S. a year.
The addition of advertising on Amazon’s streaming platform follows similar moves by Netflix (NFLX) and Walt Disney Co. (DIS).
Entertainment and technology companies are struggling to make their streaming platforms profitable as the spend heavily on new content and grapple with a slowdown in new subscribers.
However, unlike other companies that offer several different streaming tiers and pricing options, some of which include ads and others that do not, Amazon is requiring all Prime members to pay the additional fee to avoid seeing advertisements on its platform.
Also, live sports events such as NFL football will continue to include advertisements even if a subscriber has paid extra to not see ads on Prime Video, said Amazon.
Amazon’s stock has increased 10% over the last 12 months to trade at $129.33 U.S. per share.
