“We aim to have a significantly lower number of ads compared to linear television and other streaming services,” Amazon said in the announcement the arrival of advertising also on Prime Videothe only one of the 3 main streaming platforms so far without commercial interruptions.
Now that advertising has actually arrived on Prime Video Also in Italy (the first day of operation was April 9th), we can say that the first statement, the one about a “significantly lower number of ads compared to linear television” is certainly true, while some doubt remains about the second. Better said: whether or not they are “fewer in number than other streaming services”, the ads they are undeniably annoying on a service that is already paid for. Whether many or few.
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How advertising works on Amazon Prime Video
Another of the unknowns, at the announcement last February, was up where it would be placed, advertising in Prime Video content: practically everywhere, it seems. That is, on every film and TV series that is not content for children.
We did our test by looking two episodes in a row of season 8 of Shamelesslasting 54 and 55 minutes: we were welcomed by 25 seconds of incoming advertisingfor another 17 seconds switching from one to the other without returning to the homepage, then another 60 seconds 11 minutes into the second episode and then another 60 seconds again after another 15 minutes of viewing. In total, almost 3 minutes of commercials in 109 minutes of content: they are not many, they are certainly less than what traditional television would have reserved for us, but they are not few either.
It should be noted that the commercials are grouped in so-called pods (different ads in blocks of longer duration, is something YouTube also does) and that our experience may not be everyone’s experience: as on other streaming platforms, the intensity of interruptions increases as viewing increases, which is why in the first of the two episodes Of Shameless We didn’t find any.
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How to remove advertising on Amazon Prime Video
If you never want to see any of them, and go back to having Prime Video as it was before, the only solution is to paybecause Amazon has chosen a different (but similar, ultimately) solution than Netflix e Disney Plus: not a cheaper subscription with commercials, but an additional monthly fee for those who don’t want them.
Top right, on the homepage of the site there is the writing Without advertising (it says AD in the app): you click, you identify yourself with your password and one of the first options is the one that invites you to “Upgrade to watch Prime films and TV series without advertising”, with next the button to confirm the charge of 1.99 euros per month. Which clearly add to the 49.90 euros annual cost of Amazon Prime.