Prime started airing commercials in January 2024, but by October it was already signaling to advertisers that it would “ramp up a little bit more” in 2025. This isn’t the same message the service was communicating to consumers, releasing a statement at the time that said, “We have not changed our plans to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers, and evaluate advertising volumes to help ensure we’re delivering a great customer experience.”
AdWeek reportedly obtained communications between an Amazon rep and an ad buyer which stated that “Prime Video ad load has gradually increased to four to six minutes per hour.” So at this point, it’s not even necessarily true that Prime has “meaningfully fewer” ads than competitors. The outlet pegs it in the middle of the pack for streamers (fewer ads than Paramount+, more ads than Netflix), though it does still run fewer commercials than linear TV. However, the company continues to downplay the increase: “Our commitment is to improving ad experiences rather than simply increasing the number of ads shown,” an Amazon Ads spokesperson told AdWeek. “While demand continues to grow, our commitment is to improving ad experiences rather than simply increasing the number of ads shown.” (The odd double-down reiterating language is theirs.)
As streamers experiment with how much advertising they can sneak in while also making customers pay for their services, the question will become how much consumers are willing to tolerate before the “cord cutting” phenomenon becomes “subscription canceling.” Prime reportedly didn’t notice a meaningful subscriber drop-off when it first started running commercials, so it’ll likely continue experimenting until its users decide that enough is enough.
Correction: An earlier version this story said Amazon confirmed the increased ad load to AdWeek, and has been updated.
