Amazon Reportedly Planning Ad Option For Prime Video

Joining the crowd -- and perhaps not unexpectedly -- Amazon is planning to launch a platform-wide advertising-supported tier of its Prime Video streaming service, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” an Amazon representative said in response to an inquiry from Television News Daily.

Amazon's move would come with little surprise, considering the e-commerce business growth around advertising revenue on its platforms -- now at $37.7 billion worldwide in 2022. Amazon is projected to account for 10.2% of all digital ad spend this year.

The ad-supported tier for Prime Video would come after two major ad-free streaming platforms -- Netflix and Disney+ -- have recently entered the market with their own ad-supported streaming options.

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Amazon Prime Video is part of Amazon's broader Prime retail/e-commerce membership package, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 a year, giving consumers benefits such as free one-day delivery, same-day delivery on eligible orders and fast grocery delivery and pickup.

Consumers can also subscribe to just Prime Video -- at $8.99 as a stand-alone service. It has not been determined how an ad-supported Prime Video option would be priced for Prime Video.

Amazon would come into this with some experience in the TV-video arena.

“It’s no secret Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) is the fastest growing segment in the ad market, which Amazon has already explored with its Freevee service,” says Field Garthwaite, chief executive officer and co-founder of IRIS.TV.

As marketers begin to move more into streaming, Matt Spiegel, executive vice president of TruAudience Growth Strategy for TransUnion, cautions: “Amazon needs to determine the implementation of future ad loads that respects consumer viewing behaviors, so they don’t face a similar slow adoption like Netflix did with their ad-supported tier.”

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