Amazon announced today that Prime Video users in the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK will automatically start seeing advertisements "in early 2024." Subscribers will receive a notification email "several weeks" in advance, at which point they can opt to pay $2.99 extra for ad-free Prime Video, Amazon said.
That takes the price of ad-free Prime Video from $8.99/month alone to $11.98/month and from $14.99/month with Prime to $17.98/month.
[...] Prime Video subscribers who don't pay the extra $2.99 (and don't just cancel their subscription altogether) are promised "meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers."
[...] With current prices starting at $9.99 per month, Prime Video was one of the cheapest ways to get streaming TV without ads. While the changes put pricing for ad-free Prime Video more on par with its competitors, it may still disappoint budget-minded cord-cutters. Streaming services started off as a cheaper, simpler alternative to cable TV. But as an influx in services, changes in pricing, confusing bundles, and scattered content have proven, we haven't gotten that far from cable after all.
Related Stories
A feces-encrusted swim diaper tanked a family business after Amazon re-sold it as new, Bloomberg reported, triggering a bad review that quickly turned a million-dollar mom-and-pop shop into a $600,000 pile of debt.
Paul and Rachelle Baron, owners of Beau & Belle Littles, told Bloomberg that Amazon is supposed to inspect returned items before reselling them. But the company failed to detect the poop stains before reselling a damaged item that triggered a one-star review in 2020 that the couple says doomed their business after more than 100 buyers flagged it as "helpful."
"The diaper arrived used and was covered in poop stains," the review said, urging readers to "see pics."
[...]
Amazon says that it prohibits negative reviews that violate community guidelines, including by focusing on seller, order, or shipping feedback rather than on the item's quality. Other one-star reviews for the same product that the Barons seemingly accept as valid comment on quality, leaving feedback like the diaper fitting too tightly or leaking.
[...]
But Amazon ultimately declined to remove the bad review, Paul Baron told Bloomberg. The buyer who left the review, a teacher named Erin Elizabeth Herbert, told Bloomberg that the Barons had reached out directly to explain what happened, but she forgot to update the review and still has not as of this writing."I always meant to go back and revise my review to reflect that, and life got busy and I never did," Herbert told Bloomberg.
Her review remains online, serving as a warning for parents to avoid buying from the family business.
[...]
On Amazon's site, other sellers have complained about the company's failure to remove reviews that clearly violate community guidelines. In one case, an Amazon support specialist named Danika acknowledged that the use of profanity in a review, for example, "seems particularly cut and dry as a violation," promising to escalate the complaint. However, Danika appeared to abandon the thread after that, with the user commenting that the review remained up after the escalation.
On January 29, Amazon started showing ads to Prime Video subscribers in the US unless they pay an additional $2.99 per month. But this wasn't the only change to the service. Those who don't pay up also lose features; their accounts no longer support Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos.
As noticed by German tech outlet 4K Filme on Sunday, Prime Video users who choose to sit through ads can no longer use Dolby Vision or Atmos while streaming. Ad-tier subscribers are limited to HDR10+ and Dolby Digital 5.1.
4K Filme confirmed that this was the case on TVs from both LG and Sony; Forbes also confirmed the news using a TCL TV.
[...]
Amazon announced in September 2023 that it would run ads on Prime Video accounts in 2024; in December, Amazon confirmed that the ads would start running on January 29 unless subscribers paid extra. In the interim, Amazon failed to mention that it was also removing support for Dolby Vision and Atmos from the ad-supported tier.
[...]
As Forbes' John Archer reported, "To add a bit of confusion to the mix, on the TCL TV I used, the Prime Video header information for the Jack Ryan show that appears on the with-ads basic account shows Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos among the supported technical features—yet when you start to play the episode, neither feature is delivered to the TV."
Previously on SoylentNews:
Amazon Adding Ads to Prime Video in 2024 Unless You Pay $2.99 Extra
[I chose to pay the $2.99 extra, because why else am I using a streaming service? In the event I feel like it's not worth it, I'll just dump them.]
(Score: 5, Informative) by tizan on Tuesday September 26 2023, @07:36PM (1 child)
all the shows that it offers under the Freevee section you are forced to see ads even if you are a prime member
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Revek on Tuesday September 26 2023, @09:52PM
Not only that the free to me button was removed or hidden so well I haven't been able to find it. All in all I'm thinking of getting rid of prime.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snospar on Tuesday September 26 2023, @07:38PM (19 children)
Well, I cancelled Netflix when they got greedy so I guess Amazon Prime is next. While I enjoyed the next day delivery it was never that important, I can order in advance of birthdays etc and if not I can wait. Trying hard to think of something on Prime that I can't live without. Nope, just the adverts.
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Ox0000 on Tuesday September 26 2023, @07:51PM (12 children)
This particularly is very insightful.
Why can't people wait anymore?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Barenflimski on Tuesday September 26 2023, @07:55PM (4 children)
I watch so little TV I'm happy to wait until its free on black and white TV.
(Score: 4, Informative) by captain normal on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:18PM
I get all the TV I care to watch for free over the air. That's over 35 channels (most in Hi Def) All the major networks, four PBS channels, reruns of old BBC and History channel shows and a lot more.
I am not in a big metro area either, such as S.F.. Sacramento, or L.A. Where one can get many more channels.
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday September 27 2023, @01:33AM (2 children)
Will there ever again be black and white TV? Hmmm. Maybe if I massively adjust the video parameters on my high-definition colour TV?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday September 27 2023, @11:49AM
I'm sure you can get there or apply a filter, sort of how some gamers like to apply fake CRT scanlines to their modern screens so it looks like back in ye olden days, or so they imagine that it looked.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday September 27 2023, @01:30PM
E-ink TV? That would be different.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:39PM (2 children)
I make a point of taking the free shipping option at least 99% of the time, because I really don't _need_ that crap in my life any sooner. Also, I hope that it helps to keep demand down for the faster shipping options, thereby keeping them more affordable in the rare instances where I actually do want something a little quicker.
Thing is: during my free Amazon Prime trials I have discovered: Free Shipping seems to under-promise over-deliver with items usually arriving on the early end or even before the promised delivery window, whereas: Free Prime One Day Shipping mostly over promises and under delivers, often with items arriving in just about the same amount of time as if they were shipped for "free." Further, Prime encourages you to "wait for Prime day" to get all your stuff in consolidated shipments, whereas regular free delivery just holds on to your order for 24 hours or so incase you think of anything else you want in the meantime they consolidate that together into a single shipment. To me, this looks like those "prime day rewards" just becoming a partial refund of the Prime subscription fee, but instead of getting your cash back they give you little digital rights trinkets like eBooks or music downloads.
Needless to say: lifetime total spent on Prime subscriptions in this household: $0.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Wednesday September 27 2023, @01:35AM (1 child)
And the free ebooks don't even follow the international .epub standard!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday September 27 2023, @01:35PM
I have prime, I like ebooks, books, etc. I will not buy into the Amazon system for books. Even, if they're free. I still have a first gen touchscreen nook. It still works well, though the rubber they added to make it "feel nice" is now disintegrating. I'm thinking about buying a new ereader, probably another Nook or a Kobo. Also, screw having advertisements shown to you on your ereader device, looking at you Kindle.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday September 27 2023, @07:52AM
It's not about waiting. Some things have a fixed deadline - birthdays, christmas, etc. So it's about planning with understanding of lead times and having sufficient free time to manage that sort of stuff.
(Score: 2) by xorsyst on Wednesday September 27 2023, @08:33AM
I cancelled prime a couple of years ago. I don't order from Amazon much, but when I do I select free shipping, get an estimate of 3-5 days, and usually the package arrives next day anyway because I guess their logistics works out better for them that way.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday September 27 2023, @10:44PM
It is worth pointing out that Amazon Prime really upped the game for all other online shopping. Before then taking a week to ship, like a lazy ebay seller, was considered "good enough" and now most places do same day or at worst next day shipping, probably due to prime competition.
The other problem with Prime is too many middleman shit sellers trying to become millionaires, if I wanted to pay twice as much for gray market ali-express products, I'd just order from ali-express and set a small pile of cash on fire.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday September 28 2023, @12:01AM
I can't speak for anybody else but some shows I watch LOVE to be spoiled by assholes on social media. BTW I'm not necessarily referring to people on my friends list, there's a shit-ton of Star Trek groups on FB paying Meta to put their posts in my feed.
But admittedly that's a niche thing in my case. What's wrong with me wanting to watch some shows? I need to unwind after work.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:33PM (2 children)
About five years back our regional grocery chain Goliath (aka Publix) was on greased skids to hell. The worst turn was BOGOs - buy one get one free, which anybody with two functioning brain cells knows means: Normal price just nearly doubled so we can put on these "amazing" sales one week out of every 10 or so... Greedflation at it's most blatant. Anyway, a dying competitor (Winn Dixie), has roughly equal prices and selection and quality, but... they run their specials through a free "members only" discount card scheme. Now, in reality if you show up at Winn Dixie without such a card, whether you ever had one or not, the cashier will just pull one out from under the register and give you the members' price on whatever it is you are buying, but... the cards also accumulate rewards as you use them so if you don't carry the card you're effectively paying that little tax on every transaction... If there is a point to this ramble, it was my declaration "if Publix EVER starts a reward card program, they will NEVER see me in their stores again."
Well, I actually quit Publix around 2019, then in 2020 we discovered that Aldis delivered via Instacart is actually net-cheaper than driving to Publix and doing your own shopping, so mostly that's what we do now. But... just the other day, I saw an article mentioning the fact that Publix may soon be starting their very own rewards card program. May they continue to rot in hell along with their expired produce.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2023, @09:33PM (1 child)
Aldi is actually not a possessive. It's short for "Albrecht Diskont", so while it's named after a family, it's not the family name.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2023, @11:07PM
They do have a lot of stores though, so maybe it's just plural.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:57PM
We just cancelled Starz and Max.
Netflix is probably next in the very near future.
I am undecided about Prime because we use it for shipping stuff. But maybe that needs to be reconsidered.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday September 26 2023, @11:29PM (1 child)
So... you can't live without Amazon Prime adverts?
Don't cancel your subscription bro: you're about to get them for free!
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 27 2023, @09:06AM
There are things that are too expensive even when free.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:13PM (2 children)
You know, we finally had a chance to actually win the fight against illegal downloading...
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Tuesday September 26 2023, @11:20PM (1 child)
I never left. $5.95 a month for a proxy service is all it costs.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 27 2023, @09:02AM
Yes, and that's the thing: It used to cost about as much for legal streaming. No hassle, no wading through broken and outright maliciously mislabeled torrents, no waiting for the downloads, no worries about where to store the whole crap, no worries about downloading some kind of shit that blew up in your face by exploiting some 0day in your player that you forgot to patch in time...
We really had a chance here. And we saw that people are actually willing to pay for legal streaming, they are even happy to pay more than those 6 bucks, hell, make it 12 bucks a month, who gives a shit? But then they started to butcher it, slice it up between a dozen streaming services, each of them with a single show you want to see and a truckload of pointless filler, and now that ad bullshit, the goddamn reason we all told the cable companies where they can stick their cable.
If the past decade or so showed something, it's that people are VERY willing to pay for legal content. What they're not willing to do is deal with the hassle of juggling a dozen streaming services and fiddling with adblockers. Because if they wanted that, they could just return to downloading their shows for free. Same hassle, just no cost.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:14PM (6 children)
The arms race has resulted in most TV being program length commercials via product placements and such. There are a few good shows once in a while, but they want you to pay for multiple streaming services. Fuck them all. Our shared culture is a bombed out wasteland. I'm learning to play guitar for my own amusement. It's better for you mind to do something like that anyway. I don't want to be famous, and I sure as fuck don't want to appear on "America's got Cheap non-Union talent". I just want a pleasant diversion. We've come full circle. You've got Americans like me playing our own music, telling our own stories to one another. You didn't mean to do it, but you're ironically providing a public service insofar as you're such a PiTA that you're driving us back to something better. Don't let the door hit your ass too hard on the way out.
(Score: 5, Informative) by tangomargarine on Tuesday September 26 2023, @09:29PM (5 children)
I think it would probably be better if we all did a bit more creating of our own, and less consuming of popular culture. I write short stories while, I am sure they are all terrible, give me some joy.
And being a creator yourself helps you sympathize a bit with the others who do. The world needs more sympathy these days.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday September 26 2023, @11:18PM
I am currently doing most of my light fiction reading on Royal Road. They vary from terrible to quite good, with the best of them sometimes getting taken down to go commercial. It's easy to dodge any that get too preachy, and while the writing can be terrible, at least most of the writers have an actual story to tell.
Most of the better ones have a patreon account if you want to support the artist, and looking at the level of support some of them are doing quite well - definitely better than many starting authors in traditional publishing.
One job constant is that good employers have low turnover, so opportunities to join good employers are relatively rare.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday September 27 2023, @08:13AM (3 children)
> I write short stories
Why not try roleplaying?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 27 2023, @09:09AM
Very, very different type of writing. In a story, you control the main characters and their actions, something you don't in a RPG.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday September 27 2023, @04:24PM (1 child)
I did participate in a couple D&D campaigns until COVID hit, if that's what you mean. They were okay, but getting a bit long in the tooth (we'd been meeting weekly for about a year?), so I took that opportunity to duck back out. Checked it off my bucket list.
Bit more number-crunching than I really enjoyed. I was told that we didn't lean into the actual roleplaying elements of it much.
But yeah, it's a cooperative, creative (ish) activity. More creative for the GM, I suppose, but still.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday September 28 2023, @01:29PM
It depends on the group and the game. I understand there are a number of "diceless" RPGs which are popular nowadays. When I did it, it was all of the White Wolf games (Vampire being the most famous). They can be run as a more hack and slash but the concept pushes more into character development and plot if that is your thing.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Tork on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:16PM (1 child)
So now they want to add ads to a service I've already got then demand I pay more to get rid of them again...? Fuck no. I wonder if it's time to start looking at Walmart as an alternative.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday September 27 2023, @01:48PM
Walmart is literally just another loveless monster that was a little slow on the whole online marketplace thing.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday September 26 2023, @08:54PM (1 child)
When cable TV first appeared, one of the supposed premise of it was that you wouldn't have to watch commercials on pay TV.
Of course that never did happen. (or I must have been too young to have seen ad free cable.)
By the 1990s cable TV had become so bad that is simply was no longer worth watching. There were more entertaining things to do than watch cable TV. The ads sometimes took half the time. Once the ads were over, they put "bugs" over the content which were small animated ads for other programs on this cable channel. At that point, it only took a while of suffering with that before I quit.
Now I consider it a red line. I'll EITHER pay to watch without ads, OR I will suffer with ads on free content.
Years ago when Netflix considered adding ads, I wrote them a letter about why this is a bad idea. Over time the cost to watch will increase and the ads will increase. It is simple inevitability. It will destroy itself like cable TV did, which Netflix was competing with.
Now I guess things have gotten to the point that Amazon thinks this will fly. And maybe it will. But it marks the end.
There are other things people can spend their entertainment dollars on. And there are competing streaming services.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 5, Informative) by UncleBen on Tuesday September 26 2023, @09:30PM
Let's modify our speech and thinking here. Content with ads is not free content. Platforms that inject ads are not free. Product-placement counts as ads.
Just so we can keep clear on our objectives.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday September 26 2023, @09:45PM (3 children)
What about shows and movies that you have "purchased"? Will these now include ads?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday September 26 2023, @11:04PM (1 child)
do banners, floating animations, or watermarks which refer to other programs count? if so, then probably, eventually.
They already put trailers up while you browse, so they will probably start with the cinema/VCR style "pre show trailers", after you have pressed play, as well.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday September 27 2023, @01:56PM
Don't they already do this? They do that for most/all of their shows that I've watched.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday September 28 2023, @12:46AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday September 26 2023, @11:40PM (1 child)
TV is unwatchable.
Cable is unwatchable.
Streaming is fast becoming unwatchable.
and even if they weren't laden with ads, most movies nowadays are unwatchable.
But there are plenty of good documentaries out there: advertisers leave them alone because the audience is limited. Also, they know ads don't work on those who prefer documentaries over one of the many Fast and Furious or Marvel movies. Just like they leave PBS alone for the same reason.
Better: you can find a lot of those documentaries on Youtube for free. They're just as illegally uploaded to Youtube as a Marvel movie, but nobody goes after them because there's no money in it.
So here's my advice: learn to love documentaries and you'll never have to pay anything and suffer the scourge of ads ever again.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 27 2023, @02:23AM
And coincidentally, one of my favorite documentaries of all time is entitled "The Corporation [youtube.com]", which explores among other things advertising. The section on advertising involves an interview with one of the most psychopathic characters ever put on screen, as far as I'm concerned.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 27 2023, @02:21AM
1. The organizations that produce films, TV, etc want more money, because that's how capitalism works.
2. One way to get money is to show ads. And there is some degree to which viewers will put up with ads, and although what that degree is is a matter of debate at some point a manager looking for a short-term revenue boost at the expense of longer-term factors like viewer retention will push to include them.
And the ads will get progressively more obnoxious and intrusive until the viewers get fed up and look somewhere else which is going ad-free to convince people to pay for the new thingy, whatever the new thingy is.
This happened to broadcast TV. This happened to cable. This happened to allegedly-non-profit operations like PBS (yeah, I know, technically they're not ads, they're sponsorship announcements, but they sure look like ads and function like ads). This happened to every major website ever that hasn't explicitly had bylaws or legal requirements to prevent it. And this is going to happen to all streaming services, it's only a matter of how long it will take.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Wednesday September 27 2023, @03:58AM (3 children)
Log, long ago I watched a film on Crunchyroll -- it was 'five centimetres per second" -- a Japanese animation that accurately presented the mood one gets into on a long train ride in winter. It reminded me of long train trips I had taken in winter across the Canadian prairies.
I was spellbound.
Magnificent.
I immediately ordered the DVD (which I watched when it finally arrived.).
And I watched few normal TV shows on that service, too. With ads.
It took me almost a week to sign up for the ad-free version. That was over a decade ago.
The ad-free version is still ad-free. It's most of the video I watch.
Though I also watch Netflix ad-free. (except for an occasional trailer *after* a movie.)
I dumped cable TV last year. I haven't yet got an antenna for over-the-air local channels.
The only cable channel I miss is BBC Canada. I can get it over the internet, but only if I'm subscribed to my local cable channel. Fooey on that. I found no way of paying the BBC directly for just the one channel I wanted.
-- hendrik
(Score: 2) by Rich on Wednesday September 27 2023, @06:58PM (2 children)
That's Makoto Shinkai. I'd say streaming doesn't matter for his works, because one ought to have them on permanent physical storage anyway, at least the era from "She and her cat" to "Garden of Words". (I concede, maybe "Tenki no Ko" could be left to streaming).
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday September 28 2023, @10:39PM (1 child)
I loved "Garden of Words". Now I get to look for 'She and her Cat". Thanks.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Friday September 29 2023, @11:02AM
You don't make a mistake to work through the entire filmography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoto_Shinkai [wikipedia.org] ). Even the music video ("Egao", best anime hamster ever) and the commercials are world class.
The shorts up to "She and her cat" are just what he did alone on a pre-OS X Mac, before he got into increasingly refined films. I guess "5 Centimeters" is a turning point. The previous "The place promised in our early days" oozes more of that vibe, while the following "Children who chase lost voices" detours to full Ghibli style. The three latest works are mega-selling blockbusters, and a pleasure to watch, but they lack that solemn emotional impact of the earlier works.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ledow on Wednesday September 27 2023, @09:58AM
I recently cut my Amazon Prime because I don't really use Video at all, couldn't justify the new renewal price (basically becoming equal to what I was saving in postage), and ads or a further subscription would have been the final nail in the coffin anyway if I'd ever cared about Prime Video (or, indeed, any subscription video/TV services whatsoever).
They're starting to lose money on me, and I used to spend an awful lot with them. Maybe the tide is finally turning against them.
Ah, well, there'll be another alternative crop up if that's the case. Just sad, as my Amazon account is something like 20 years old, I think.
(Score: 2) by dwilson98052 on Thursday September 28 2023, @03:50PM
...it's always been about bypassing the cable companies and having all the profit for themselves.