It’s no surprise that Prime Video‘s ad-supported tier is its most popular, with Amazon reporting at its unBoxed 2025 event that it now has more than 315 million viewers.
That’s 115 million up from the 200 million figure reported in April 2024, which is when the ad-supported tier was first introduced. Before that, the streamer’s ad-free plan had an estimated collective reach of 210 million in 2023, according to data from the Business of Apps.
Prime Video’s ad-supported tier needs some serious tweaks if it wants to keep me as a subscriber
As it stands, I’d need to pay an extra $3 / £3 / AU$3 a month, or $36 / £36 / AU$36 a year, if I wanted to keep my Prime Video experience ad-free. That’s on top of the standard $9 / £6 / AU$10 a month, or $108 / £72 / AU$120 a year I’m paying to access the standalone service. Factor in my Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and Now TV (I’m UK based), payments, and I don’t want to part with a single cent more than I need to.
In short, I’m much more likely to quit using the streamer altogether than stump up more money to access what I’m already getting in a less annoying way. I’ve got a feeling that if Prime Video doesn’t improve its user experience, those 315 million ad-supported subscribers could soon be dropping like flies.
To me, there’s an incredibly easy way for Amazon to sort this. Instead of big chunks of ads peppering the movie or TV show I’ve chosen to watch, I’d prefer less ads more frequently. I find having to wait three minutes for my movie to continue completely takes me out of the story I’m trying to immerse myself in. Make that window of time shorter, and we stay more engaged.
This is something I think Netflix and co. do much better than Prime Video – and with the two big dogs competing for subscribers like they’re fighting in the playground, details like this could make or break who wins out.
For the time being, there’s enough to keep me at least until the end of the year. The Girlfriend remains one of my favorite TV shows of the year, plus I’m desperate to see Fallout season 2, which releases on December 17. Throw in one of the best movie back catalogs out there and I’m swayed to stay, but I know the ads will get to me soon.
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
