OPINION
If one of the reasons that caused you to sign up for Amazon’s “Prime” membership was because you could get their “free” video streaming service, heads up. Like thousands, if not millions, of Amazon Prime members, we got a friendly email from the Big A today.
Coffee, tea, and bitterness
“We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements.” Yep, what a nice thing to go with your morning coffee and cereal.
For those of us in that could be described as “cheapskates,” we’ve learned the meaning of time warp. Watching a “free” movie on Freebie or any of the other non-subscription streaming services means your sense of time will be warped as you wait for those 5, 6, 7, or 8 commercials to roll by. Spend any time in Quartzsite in winter, it only adds onto the misery of buffering, thanks to the overloaded Verizon or ATT networks. But that’s another complaint, for another time.
Amazon Prime “reasoning”
So what’s behind Amazon Prime’s move to breaking up your favorite show with a “word from our sponsor”? “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” reasons the Big A. “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.” All of the major streaming services are now injecting adverts into their shows.
Wow! What a promise. “Meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV” is like beauty: It’s all in the eye of the beholder. No doubt Amazon Prime executives will view a few minutes of ad copy as “meaningfully less” than their competitors. And, of course, “No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership.”
But there’s more!
But like the Infomercial says, “But wait! There’s more!” Amazon coyly mentions, “We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month that you can sign up for.”
Just like the rest of the herd, there’s that “inexpensive” opt-out that you can pay for. What’s another $36 a year on top the $139 annual fee you’re paying to have Amazon Prime? Amazon, like Hulu and the rest of the herd, has figured out they’ll make more money on ad revenue than from those who pay for the pricier opt-out.
Yes, there are other values to an Amazon Prime membership. When we first signed up, we crunched the numbers. We figured that how we ordered from Amazon, we’d get back the membership fees in how much we’d save in the “free shipping” versus paying on a per-shipment basis. Of course, that was before the company cranked up the fees on the Prime membership. Maybe it’s time to get out the calculator and look at it again.
It may cause us to really question a statement Amazon Prime makes in this gentle announcement. “Prime is a very compelling value.”
##RVT1137b
I feel manipulated by Amazon. For the last few months, Amazon has been heavily promoting their “discounted” rate available to qualifying government assistance recipients (SNAP, SSI, Medicaid, TANF, WIC, etc.)-half the price those not getting government assistance pay. Where will they make up that revenue? Common sense indicates from advertising and/or the additional $2.99 per month fee to be “ad-free”. A case of robbing Peter to pay Paul?
I also don’t agree with these discounted rates by any company. We have Comcast Cable that they offer people on assistance a huge discount on high speed service, while increasing my cost yearly. Most of these people have never worked a day in their life. We pay for most of their food and shelter through our taxes. That should be enough!
Lots of the people on assistance are seniors and single moms. Many of the single moms work fulltime jobs. Did you know many of the lower ranking military families also qualify for assistance?
Many seniors are working fulltime jobs too, not just mothers….and yes it’s true about military personnel (not just families) needing assistance, which is just shameful. This country doesn’t treat its military personnel or seniors well at all.
Who would have 🤔 it’s beyond shame but name calling ain’t even gonna change nothing about that terrible situation just gotta 🙏.
Betcha lotta good taxpayers didn’t know that huh!
Come on, it’s a brand new year. Old one’s gone.
A classic bait and switch move by Amazon?
It appears Prime Video has learned how to use ransomware as a tool to drive profits. According to the email I received, they will not provide ad free content unless I pay a ransom of $2.99 month. This is unfortunate news for consumers.
As an Amazon Prime Member, I make sure I get my moneys worth! I send gifts, order everyday things instead of going shopping and have subscriptions to things I use all the time. Sending gifts is the biggest time saver.
Oh boy! I’m really excited to see more ads for cell phones, car insurance and ambulance-chasing lawyers! Also, every time I look at something on Amazon, my whole family will get ads for it on every device we own for months! Isn’t technology great???
PlayOnCloud has become our go to source for television programming. We have a fairly extensive cloud library of favorites that are recorded commercial free from Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and other paid and free services. We are constantly on the lookout for new programs to add to our collection for future ad-free viewing.
I’m of the opinion that if I pay for programming I have already paid. Putting commercials in that content that I have already paid for is robbing me of commercial free viewing.
I would understand if the cost for Prime went up. We are after all in a high inflation period and everything else has raised its prices already.
We split our viewing between Netflix and Amazon. We will have to decide if it’s time to quit watching prime or pay the additional fee.
Amazon has gotten into the bad habit of sending returned junk one orders off their website, after it is advertised as “new in the box.” This has happened several times recently, if this dirty deed keeps up they can count me out of their dumping ground.
I just worked my way through that same email yesterday. I’ll see how it is with the commercials first. Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂
Off and on we watch a lot of Prime. Yes, there are usually some commercials, but not nearly as many as from antenna, or even cable before we cut it. We mainly watch Prime because the choice of programming is much better than antenna. Most of all, we shop on Prime and save much more on shipping than what it costs. As they say whiners gonna whine.
But an antenna you git free channels right!
Jeff B is not rich enough already? I will have to take a serious look at if I renew my prime or even continue using Amazon at all
I found this to be an excellent article on whether or not Amazon Prime is a “compelling value”. They do not address the new advertising issue, however. I use my Prime membership often and I particularly enjoy the benefits I get from First Reads and other Kindle book
value-pricing. https://www.cnbc.com/select/amazon-prime-is-it-worth-it/
Amazon…double dipping, the same way cable companies do. We pay for TV, and still have to watch ads, now Amazon is following suit; charge the advertiser to air their crap, AND charge the customer to WATCH it. What a deal! For Amazon. Another reason to cut out all these greedy corporations and let them pay their own way.
I pay for Sirius XM for a bunch of reasons, mainly that I NEVER have to listen to someone shouting at me every 2 minutes trying to get me to buy something. I’m glad to pay to not be subject to that garbage. All that said, I already pay for Amazon, and I’m not paying twice. Might have to wave bye-bye to them, as I have so many other greedy companies.