Your favorite ad-free program is over! As announced at the end of February, French users of Amazon Prime Video will see advertisements landing on their streaming platform this Tuesday.
Concerning the duration of the announcements, it should be around thirty seconds before you can view the chosen program. Advertising time should therefore be between two and three minutes per hour of viewing, as has been the case in the United States since January 29, note our colleagues at Telerama.
It is possible to circumvent the measure by paying an additional 1.99 euros per month, as indicated by a message from Amazon visible if you connect to the platform. You must go to the settings, select “Prime”, then “Watch without advertising”, and finally click on “Start subscription”.
Amazon follows in the footsteps of its competitors
The classic subscription, with advertisements interspersing the programs, remains priced at 6.99 euros per month, and 69.90 euros per year. If you want to remove the advertisements, you will therefore have to pay 8.98 euros per month, or 93.78 euros per year. However, even with an ad-free subscription, live programs will still include ads.
Amazon justified this decision – already applied for several months in other countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom or Germany – by the need to be able to “continue to invest in attractive content”, promising to broadcast “significantly fewer ads than traditional linear TV and other streaming services.”
Through this development, Amazon is aligning itself with the model of its competitors: Netflix launched hostilities in November 2022, followed by Disney + a year later. Except that Amazon’s offer is much less expensive than that of other platforms. So, to avoid advertisements, you have to pay an extra 3 euros on Disney + and 7.50 euros on Netflix.
For the American firm and its boss Jeff Bezos, a gigantic market is opening up. Thanks to its online sales site, Amazon knows precisely the preferences of its customers. And can therefore broadcast “targeted” advertisements, likely to sell for a very high price. In 2016, Jeff Bezos declared during a conference: “When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes. »