Amazon is unlikely to lose Prime subscribers over Video ads

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Amazon's recent decision to add commercials to Prime Video TV shows and movies is no doubt going to rub some the wrong way. Threats to cancel Prime memberships are reportedly growing on social media, but will folks actually follow through?

Humans are interesting creatures. By nature, we value exclusivity. We want to be the first to learn about a hip new trend, product, or service, and we love nothing more than to be the first to tell others about it.

Generally speaking, once the cat is out of the bag, interest starts to wane. This is where having a solid product or service really pays dividends, and you start to see companies further increase the value of their offering to remain attractive. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but it's predictable enough that many big businesses will find themselves faced with a similar situation sooner or later.

Amazon appears to be in the midst of it right now – that is, if you believe everything you read online.

A recent report from Gizmodo highlights growing frustration from consumers over Amazon's introduction of ads to TV shows and movies on Prime Video. The new ads, which were announced back in September and started rolling out this week, can be disabled for an additional $2.99 per month.

Will consumer frustration boil over to the point that a meaningful number of people will cancel Amazon Prime? Only time will tell.

According to a recent report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Amazon Prime membership was mostly flat between December 2021 and December 2022 following years of steady growth. The grown returned this past year, however, as the firm estimates 176 million US Amazon customers had a Prime membership as of December 2023 - up about five percent year over year.

The small percentage of folks that are truly miffed about ads coming to Prime Video could cancel their accounts in protest, but don't expect it to rock the company. Prime Video is just one of many perks that a Prime account affords, the most prominent being shopping and shipping benefits that largely remain unmatched.

Do you have a Prime account? If so, how many perks besides shipping do you actually use on even a semi-regular basis?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101711-amazon-unlikely-lose-subscribers-over-prime-video-ads.html

 

[nitebird]

Oh right, my prime membership of however many years comes with video. Ops

 

[mbrowne5061]

I turned off auto-renewal as soon as this news came down. With free shipping at $35, and prime no longer actually getting 2-day shipping in reality, ad-free video streaming was the only reason to keep Prime.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Sharing the cost and benefits of the Prime membership is the only reason why I still have it...the ads is an insult to customers.

 

[Superconductor]

... ad-free video streaming was the only reason to keep Prime.

No it wasn't

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I turned off auto-renewal as soon as this news came down. With free shipping at $35, and prime no longer actually getting 2-day shipping in reality, ad-free video streaming was the only reason to keep Prime.

Same. I just dont order stuff often enough to justify the new higher price anyway.

Plus, I try to order from other sites now. PC parts from newegg, shoes straight from the manufacturer, car parts from rock auto, ece. Amazon's search function is totally borked and fakes are everywhere.

I had prime video for the grand tour and clarksons farm, but if theyre gonna do this then I'll buy a single month on christmas break and watch everything I want in that time.

 

[dnous]

I also canceled it yesterday, ads were one thing but the abysmal offering sure didn't help either.

 

[Dr Roboto]

I am one of those people that watch Prime only because I use Amazon for shopping. It is a nice benefit as there is a quality show or movie on there once or month or so. Will the commercials cause an issue? It really depends how intrusive and annoying they are. If they are like Pandora music where I get two short ads every random15-20 minutes or when I change the station, then I don't mind. If however, it is anything like the Freebee channel that Prime gives you access to where I am pretty sure each commercial breaks gets longer and can be like 4 minutes or longer by the end of the show, then I am going to have an issue with Prime. I will not pay more money to get rid of them. So, then I guess I will be in a pickle.

I canceled Netflix when the changed their sharing policy. I pay for # of streams, not locations. Now Netflix has more subscribers than ever. So, what do I know.

 

[godrilla]

I'm keeping it only because we recuperate the fees via Wholefoods discounts.

 

[waclark]

I'm sure I'll keep it. Whether I pay the $3/mo depends on how annoying the ads are. We already watch ad support streaming services so as long as it's not ads every 5 minutes, I'll be fine.

While I think it may take a year or two more, I think we are heading towards a point in time where people will cancel streaming services en masse if the costs go too high and there are too many ads. We are close now with Netflix raising prices, Amazon raising prices and more.

 

[Axeia]

I'm sure I'll keep it. Whether I pay the $3/mo depends on how annoying the ads are. We already watch ad support streaming services so as long as it's not ads every 5 minutes, I'll be fine.

While I think it may take a year or two more, I think we are heading towards a point in time where people will cancel streaming services en masse if the costs go too high and there are too many ads. We are close now with Netflix raising prices, Amazon raising prices and more.

Yarrr matey.
Ive dropped Disney (nothing good in ages anyway) and an Apple TV trial did not really make me want more of it. Maybe as a one month a year thing. Still got Netflix but mostly out habit/for other household members as there has been extremely little worthwhile on it.
And I might hold a minor grudge for doing the Witcher dirty. I had hoped it would be as big as GOT... But that's not happening with how they did it - despite finding the perfect actor before bullying him away.

 

[trgz]

I won't be renewing

 

[Strontium]

Their delivery is horrible, in our area, now. I'd say they miss the delivery date at least 50% of the time and lose packages at least 10% of the time.

I wish they would give up their own delivery service and go back to using UPS/USPS/FedEx. Pipe dream, I know. If there is one thing that will make me cancel, it's that their free Prime delivery is worthless now because they never even deliver on the promised date.

 

[Lozzy]

It won't make me cancel because there's not much on Prime worth watching anyway. But their greed WILL make me try harder to find what I need elsewhere instead of Amazon. So, good job Amazon.

 

[waclark]

Their delivery is horrible, in our area, now. I'd say they miss the delivery date at least 50% of the time and lose packages at least 10% of the time.

I wish they would give up their own delivery service and go back to using UPS/USPS/FedEx. Pipe dream, I know. If there is one thing that will make me cancel, it's that their free Prime delivery is worthless now because they never even deliver on the promised date.

In our area Amazon uses USPS, and other non-Amazon delivery services. Packages are usually on-time but some products not coming from a warehouse in the US do not always arrive on-time. Package losses are rare, at least for me.

 

[waclark]

Yarrr matey.
Ive dropped Disney (nothing good in ages anyway) and Apple TV trial did not really make me want more of it. Maybe as a one month a year thing. Still got Netflix but mostly out habit/for other household members as there has been extremely little worthwhile on it.
And I might good a minor grudge for doing the Witcher dirty. I had hoped it would be as big as GOT... But that's not happening with how they did it despite finding the perfect actor before bullying him away.

For me it's a show on Hulu, 2 shows on Prime, a couple on Netflix etc. I would prefer to subscribe to the shows I want, not necessarily a "channel" with shows I'll never watch. But at $20/season it's not worth it.

 

[GoldenGoat]

I cancelled mine and it expired a couple weeks ago. It's become too expensive for what you get and I'm NOT watching commercials in my video.

 

[CybaGirl]

Cancelled my subscription.

Not paying to watch ad's!

Nothing but a money grab for their insane greed!

If the truth was to be known they more than likely make more money from ad's than what they do subscribers.

Back to the scene I go. Lucky the door was always left open for me.

 

[MarkHughes]

Cancelling, I won't be paying to watch ads. I will never pay to watch ads, There are plenty of alternatives and probably always will be.

It just reinforces what I have said for a long time, Don't get too into any one company/site/person etc, Always be ready to move on...

 

[garth25]

Turned off auto renewal. Buy all my cheap Chinese crap from temu now.

 

[Slimforty]

As soon as I get the notification I cancelled my sub to prime and Paramount+ arrrrr I be a pirate

 

[richalone442]

A bit late, but here's my 2 cents worth.
Watching Amazon TV, I don't watch Amazon TV, nothing to see, terrible programming...
Anytime you watch streaming services, you must do so with the remote in hand, to change the channel when ever a commercial comes on, just refuse to watch them.
The servers that make up the streaming services have to work harder when you change channels(a different feed), they have to know everyone is changing channels when commercials come on...
This is nothing more than the poor getting stole from by the rich.