Prime Video has said that the change won’t affect Republic of Ireland customers ‘at this time’.
Prime Video customers in the UK have been cancelling their subscriptions after a major change was introduced to the platform.
From today (5 January), subscribers in the United Kingdom will see adverts on the streaming service and will need to pay an extra amount every month to go ad-free.
This change came into effect in the UK, after having been introduced in the USA and Canada at the end of last month.
In an email sent to Prime Video users earlier this year, the company wrote:
“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.”
Amazon told UK customers that no action is required on their end and there will not be a change to the current price of their membership.
However, the email explained that the new “ad-free” option would cost customers an additional £2.99 per month.
How does this impact Prime Video customers in the Republic of Ireland?
In a statement on the help section of Prime Video’s website, the streaming service confirmed that its Republic of Ireland users will not see advertisements “at this time”.
“In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria, content offered by Prime includes limited advertisements that run before and during playback,” the help section reads.
“If you would like to remove ads from movies and TV shows from Prime, you can subscribe to Prime Video Ad Free. See Upgrade To Go Ad-Free for further details.”
It also states: “Customers in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man won’t see ads in their experience at this time.
“Advertisements won’t be included on content that is rented or purchased.”
Following the introduction of adverts to the platform, a number of people in the countries affected have said they are cancelling their Prime Video subscriptions.
One person wrote: “So, Prime Video has ads and I think it’s time to drop Amazon Prime because why am I paying an annual subscription for ads?”
Someone else wrote: “Dear Prime Video, I’m already paying you $150 a year for Prime Video. Now I’m supposed to pay another $3 per month to avoid seeing ads?
“Amazon has a net worth of $2 trillion! This is ridiculous. What an insult to those of us who have been Prime customers from day one!”
A third said: “Prime video now has ads??? Amazon, Prime Video why are you so greedy? #cancelprime”
“It’s happening! Amazon Prime Video nickel and diming. Time to cancel,” a fourth shared.
The update follows a slew of streamers introducing new subscription methods.
Netflix introduced an ads plan in 2022 in some countries, which provided a cheaper subscription cost in return for watching an average of four minutes of ads for every hour of content.
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