Amazon is not only the largest online marketplace in the world, but has also long been a media empire with its own streaming service. Anyone who has taken out an “Amazon Prime” subscription (9 euros per month, 90 euros per year) can stream numerous films and series on “Amazon Prime Video” at no additional cost.
Amazon has long been producing its own films and series for its streaming service in order to be able to keep up with other streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ or Wow.
From Monday advertising will be standard
Now Amazon is surprisingly introducing an innovation: From February 5th, the streaming service will also place advertising in films and series in Germany “to a limited extent”. The company initially did not provide any further information on the length and frequency of any advertising spots. Just this much: The company wants to “show significantly less advertising than linear TV and other streaming television providers.”
Rented or purchased content, which is charged additionally, should not contain any advertising, but should only be included in the flat rate called “Prime Video”. The advertising placements are intended to provide the group with new sources of income.
For subscribers this means a price increase of 30 percent. Anyone who doesn’t want advertising will have to pay an additional 2.99 euros a month from Monday. The company calls it “Prime Video Ad Free”. Instead of around nine euros a month, you will have to pay twelve euros a month if you want the streams to remain ad-free. From Monday, Amazon customers will see an option to book this “upgrade” with the associated costs.
Consumer advocates want to sue
Consumer advocates have announced resistance because they see the placement of advertising as a “significant change to the contract”. In accordance with legal requirements, consent from the users must first be obtained. Simply announcing this innovation is not enough.
According to consumer advocates, this is a “hidden price increase” as customers will have to pay almost three euros more for the same offer in the future. The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has announced a lawsuit against it.
Advertising: Trend in the streaming market
Amazon is not the first streaming service to seek additional revenue through advertising. Providers such as Disney+ and Netflix introduced cheaper, advertising-financed subscription models some time ago. Netflix has even completely abolished the cheapest subscription model and combined the cheapest model with advertising. If you don’t want to see advertising, you have to pay more here too.
So Amazon is following suit, so to speak, arguing that in this way it is possible to “continue to invest in attractive content and continue to increase these investments over a long period of time”.
Advertising is attractive for streaming services
In reality, sales figures are stagnating and competition is becoming tougher. Anyone who wants to score points with their own productions needs capital to be able to pay for the expensive productions.
But it’s also about retaining all those customers for whom a standard subscription is too expensive. Because the competition is getting bigger and bigger: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have been on the market for a long time, Disney+, Apple TV+, Joyn and a few others were later added.
2024-02-04 15:02:37
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