Published on May 9, 2024
Vincent Paquette
Amazon Prime Video subscription holders will have to endure more ads. The online commerce giant is rolling out three new types of advertising on its video streaming platform in Canada and around the world. Our films and shows will be paused to show us these interactive ads. How to get rid of it? By paying extra!
More and more people are leaving traditional television and cable.
For what? Well, a large majority prefer to turn to streaming platforms, since they can watch what they want when they want from the device of their choice.
Another reason is that on these platforms, we generally do not have advertisements unlike television.
However, we are seeing more and more “streaming” platforms adopting the advertising model to make their activities profitable…
We don’t want to raise the price of the subscription so as not to scare away customers, so we advertise.
We don’t like that? We have to pay more!
This is the strategy that Amazon has adopted for its Prime Video platform. Since February 2024, we must pay an additional amount of $2.99 if we do not want advertising in our films and shows.
This extra is likely to become much more popular with the three advertising formats that Amazon is adding to Prime Video.
Why do I have ads on Amazon Prime Video?
Amazon is no different from other streaming platforms. Creating quality content is expensive. Especially mega productions like Fallout, The Boys or Rings of Power for example.
However, the Prime Video subscription is combined with the Amazon Prime offer at $9.99 per month.
In short, the amount for Prime Video is diluted through all the benefits of the subscription such as free delivery, access to Amazon Music, Twitch Prime, Prime Reading and storage on Amazon Photos.
We obviously won’t cry about the financial fate of Amazon… But the fact remains that from a profitability point of view, there is a certain logic to them putting advertising on Prime Video.
Interactive ads on certain devices
Until now, these advertisements took the form of video advertisements of approximately 30 seconds. Everything that is most classic.
Except that here, Amazon wants to go further by introducing three new advertising formats.
The goal? Show products to buy on Amazon. It’s all in everything!
So, in the press release they published, we find the details of these three formats:
Carousel ads allow customers to easily browse and purchase multiple related products on Amazon during commercial breaks on Prime Video. Brands can showcase a rolling lineup of their products that customers can explore on Amazon and add to their cart using most living room remotes. The ad automatically pauses to allow customers to browse and automatically resumes playback when interaction with the ad has stopped.
Interactive ads on pause allow customers to discover and engage with brands when they decide to pause the show or movie they’re streaming. When viewers press pause on their living room remote, they see a translucent ad featuring brand messaging and imagery, as well as a creative “Add to Cart” and “Learn More” overlay. . These ads extend the engagement opportunity beyond a traditional ad break, since the interactive overlay is available to customers for as long as the content is paused. With a simple click on their remote, customers can easily add the product to their Amazon cart, receive more information by email and resume reading at any time.
Interactive brand advertisements help advertisers improve their communication by entertaining customers with information about their brand while giving them the opportunity to shop on Amazon, learn more about services and products, and even unlock rewards. Customers can use their living room remote to add a product to their cart, request information via email and claim rewards such as Amazon shopping credits for the purchase of qualifying items.
What type of device displays these three ad formats?
If we read the details of these three advertising formats, we notice that there is always mention of the use of a remote control.
This is because these advertisements will be displayed on devices with a remote control.
We are therefore talking about our smart TV with the Prime Video application or a streaming device like the Fire Stick, the Chromecast with Google TV, the Apple TV or a Roku device.
In short, all the solutions we turn to when we want to watch television without a cable subscription.
If we watch Prime Video with our smartphone, tablet or computer, we should not see this type of advertising.
The use of the conditional verb tense is important here though. It is not impossible that Amazon introduces this type of advertising on these devices.
How to get Prime Video without ads?
If these ads on Prime Video annoy us, there are only two solutions.
The first is obviously to unsubscribe from the service…
The second is to pay the extra $2.99 per month to have the ad-free package.
This extra also allows for better visual and sound quality, since we have access to Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technologies.
