Ads coming to prime! Must pay more for no ads versions!

[gaastra]

Now almost everyone has ads versions. Welcome back to cable.

https://deadline.com/2023/09/amazon-...er-1235552984/

[bhampton]

The excellent strategy to make people watch the ads is to make the ad tier the same price as the ad free tier used to be.

Gotta love it. Or .... just cancel which is my answer more often than not.

My wife will want to keep prime for the shipping but guess what - it's not 2 days anymore most of the time and if you combine orders you get free shipping ... so if you order enough to make Prime worth it you just have to think a tiny bit to realize prime is not worth it.

I hate streaming and all the daft people who think it's wonderful and futuristic when it's just new but terrible. I can't stand ads and least of all breaking up content. I guess a lot of the content is so bad you just hope for entertaining ads.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

I've mostly switched to other places to order my stuff (Grindhouse, Bullmoose, OrbitDVD, etc.). And when I do need to use Amazon, I just need to order over $35 for free shipping (as mentioned above).

Their streaming service is only worth it to have once or twice a year, so that's no loss (and I'll sign up for a month when that time arrives).

These streaming services are making it really easy to dump them (I said goodbye to Netflix this year as well).

Hulu and Disney Plus are going to have that $20 bundle, so I expect I'll hold onto them for a little while longer (I get a lot of use out of them). But it's only a matter of time before their prices shoot up even more. And then it's adios to them as well.

[jeffarent]

Hulu’s ad free version will shoot up to $17.99 in October.

[Petey Parker]

“You’ll be paying $36 a year more to enjoy the same options you currently have now! How can you pass on this deal?”

[RevolverOcelScott]

"Why do people pirate?" -Every Stupid Decision Maker

Prime continues to raise in price while we get less.

More and more items don't get to me on release date.

2 day shipping is now "if we can"

[diverdave]

I expect that movies I have paid to purchase should continue to be commercial free!

David

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by diverdave

I expect that movies I have paid to purchase should continue to be commercial free!

David

There may be a skipable ad before them. That is common.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by RevolverOcelScott

"Why do people pirate?" -

Because they don't respect intellectual property rights and think they deserve things they can't afford.

Screw pirating ... I've got no time for such things personally and I like to reward the content creators.

[RevolverOcelScott]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Because they don't respect intellectual property rights and think they deserve things they can't afford.

It has nothing to do with the inability to afford it. This is yet another company attempting to get more money for less. Why not raise the price of prime? Because they know they'll lose subscriptions if the price goes too high. So instead they add ads, knowing most people will say "oh, well, it's ONLY 3 dollars". Which is 36 more bucks in Amazon's pocket on top of ad revenue. It's a win win for Amazon alone.

This tactic has been done time and time again and it's becoming a part of every single item that can be purchased. Restaurants hiding fees, or making nearly everything ala carte. Guilting people into tips, or "healthcare for employees". It's passing the buck onto the consumer with no added value.

If Amazon prime was ONLY streaming and not shipping (the main reason most people have prime) you'd have a leg to stand on with your artist supporting stance, but the artists aren't getting this money, it's more money for Amazon's pockets.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by bhampton

The excellent strategy to make people watch the ads is to make the ad tier the same price as the ad free tier used to be.

Gotta love it. Or .... just cancel which is my answer more often than not.

My wife will want to keep prime for the shipping but guess what - it's not 2 days anymore most of the time and if you combine orders you get free shipping ... so if you order enough to make Prime worth it you just have to think a tiny bit to realize prime is not worth it.

I hate streaming and all the daft people who think it's wonderful and futuristic when it's just new but terrible. I can't stand ads and least of all breaking up content. I guess a lot of the content is so bad you just hope for entertaining ads.

This is what I don't understand. Introduce an ad-supported tier if you want... but don't replace the ad-free tier price with the ad-supported one and raise the price of the one without. The ad-supported tiers should always be introduced at a LOWER price because they're getting the ad revenue plus the subscription price. Greedy jerks.

[RevolverOcelScott]

Originally Posted by kevin87

This is what I don't understand. Introduce an ad-supported tier if you want... but don't replace the ad-free tier price with the ad-supported one and raise the price of the one without. The ad-supported tiers should always be introduced at a LOWER price because they're getting the ad revenue plus the subscription price. Greedy jerks.

This, 100%.

[Stanis]

I've had Prime Video for years and years, the addition of ads sucks more than how they've moved most of their content to an ad-riddled platform already.

Amazon already did this, it's called FreeVee. Most of those movies and shows used to show up ad free on Amazon, but now they get that sweet sweet ad revenue....

Virtual Cable sucks.

[Comicfan]

Originally Posted by kevin87

This is what I don't understand. Introduce an ad-supported tier if you want... but don't replace the ad-free tier price with the ad-supported one and raise the price of the one without. The ad-supported tiers should always be introduced at a LOWER price because they're getting the ad revenue plus the subscription price. Greedy jerks.

I think the mentality is that they don't want people subscribing to the ad free version. The companies make more money from the consumers on the ad supported tier.

These streaming service only create revenue from us once when we subscribe to an ad free tier. With an ad supported tier, they make money on that initial sign up AND then continue to make money from the consumer every time they watch a program due to the ads.

It's better for them for us to pay a little less to sign up but have continuous revenue come in via commercials.

So what do do they do? They try to to make consumers go for the ad supported tier by making it look more attractive. How to do that? Make the ad free tier a lot more more money to make the ad supported tier more attractive to us and to cover for the money they lose on subscribing to the ad free tier.

Making the current tier the ad supported tier at the same price and creating a higher priced ad free tier is probably the start. Next will be to continue raising the ad free tier price while keeping the ad supported tier the same in order to force people to be priced out of the ad free tier. Basically making an ad free tier ultra premium.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by Comicfan

So what do do they do? They try to to make consumers go for the ad supported tier by making it look more attractive.

They've made cancelling even more attractive.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by Comicfan

I think the mentality is that they don't want people subscribing to the ad free version. The companies make more money from the consumers on the ad supported tier.

These streaming service only create revenue from us once when we subscribe to an ad free tier. With an ad supported tier, they make money on that initial sign up AND then continue to make money from the consumer every time they watch a program due to the ads.

It's better for them for us to pay a little less to sign up but have continuous revenue come in via commercials.

So what do do they do? They try to to make consumers go for the ad supported tier by making it look more attractive. How to do that? Make the ad free tier a lot more more money to make the ad supported tier more attractive to us and to cover for the money they lose on subscribing to the ad free tier.

Making the current tier the ad supported tier at the same price and creating a higher priced ad free tier is probably the start. Next will be to continue raising the ad free tier price while keeping the ad supported tier the same in order to force people to be priced out of the ad free tier. Basically making an ad free tier ultra premium.

It'd be even more attractive to them to pay less than what the current price is though. I definitely wouldn't pay for something if it's only ad-supported, and I won't pay a high price for no ads, so eventually I won't be subscribing to anything it seems. I don't believe we should have to pay for them if they're not ad-free anyway, the ad revenue should offset the subscription price.

[diverdave]

Originally Posted by bhampton

There may be a skipable ad before them. That is common.

A skipable Amazon promo would be okay IMO, but not a product ad.

[drb999]

I told my sister about this and she said that she’s probably just going to cancel Prime. It does not help that shipping times are longer than they were before.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by drb999

I told my sister about this and she said that she’s probably just going to cancel Prime. It does not help that shipping times are longer than they were before.

My shipping has not change. I can also get same day delivery on some items.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by mwynn

My shipping has not change. I can also get same day delivery on some items.

Same here. I'll admit Prime Video isn't as appealing to me as it used to be, but the primary reason my wife and I have Amazon Prime is for the shipping. We both order quite a bit of things from Amazon, and it's nice to get the items quickly and with free shipping. Nothing has ever arrived damaged, either.