Amazon announces ads

[DQ]

I just got this minutes ago.

"We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month* that you can sign up for here."

This is more shrinkflation. You pay X, you now get less with X and if you want what you had before you have to pay more.

I can see the other platforms doing this as they are hurting, but I doubt Amazon is hurting.

I am not even sure how much benefit there is with Prime at this point. The main selling feature was 2 day shipping but that's been gone for a few years and now this. Might be time to cancel.

 

[George++]

How long before Netflix does the same, probably sooner than later.

Amazon jacked up their Prime annual price to where it is close to not worth the price.

 

[George++]

The really galling point of this email is to tout all the benefits of Prime, many of which I didn't ask for nor need.

 

[DQ]

How long before Netflix does the same, probably sooner than later.

Amazon jacked up their Prime annual price to where it is close to not worth the price.

They might all do it but the others are bleeding cash if you want to call that an excuse. I doubt Prime is.

All the ads stuff will do is drive more people away and their bleeding will get worse. But this still is just another step towards there being 1 big aggregator again. Or since this might make a vacuum in the market, maybe someone steps in and does something different. Might also cause a loop. Everyone forcing ads might cause 1 of them to go no ads and then they all have to follow suit.

 

[KBJ2007]

If the Prime Video UI wasn't such a dumpster fire, the $2.99 would be somewhat easier to stomach, but to add $2.99 on top of an already crappy interface is just insulting.

 

[DQ]

If the Prime Video UI wasn't such a dumpster fire, the $2.99 would be somewhat easier to stomach, but to add $2.99 on top of an already crappy interface is just insulting.

The interface does not bug me. What does is that something (Prime) that was already bleeding value just lost ever more of it.

 

[robv14001]

A think an important question is what will AS do on 1/29/2024? Will AMZ even work? Will ads come through? If not, will timing of subtitles get goofed up? (They don't for FV.) I think I'll wait to see what AS says about how it will work before I decide to pay an extra $3/mo.

I mostly agree with what's been said here, especially on the 2-day shipping, which is not really a thing anymore. (Even when you happen to order something with same-day or 1-day shipping, oftentimes it doesn't arrive on time. But I digress.)

The interface has changed over time. It is worse now, with "pay" and "free" mixed together. It's offensive, but what are you going to do?

I also wonder: what if, say, you get STARZ as part of AMZ. Will that get ads too?

[I edited this post after I first posted it.]

 

[DQ]

A think an important question is what will AS do on 1/29/2024? Will AMZ even work? Will ads come through? If not, will timing of subtitles get goofed up? (They don't for FV.) I think I'll wait to see what AS says about how it will work before I decide to pay an extra $3/mo.

I agree with what's been said here, especially on the 2-day shipping, which is not really a thing anymore. (Even when you happen to order something with same-day or 1-day shipping, oftentimes it doesn't arrive on time. But I digress.)

I am sure it will be a wait and see. There is no way for Redfox to know how Amazon will do this. I figure worst case we just pony up the $3 monthly. Although I fear (like always happens) that $3 is introductory and before you know it it's $10. When you try to lure a cow or sheep into a pen you bring them in a little bit at a time, otherwise you spook them.

 

[George++]

Netflix already has a "with ads" tier, but I was grandfathered into the middle tier that has no ads. So far.

Amazon was placing ads in front of their Prime offerings already, to announce some other Prime feature like Thursday Night (American) Football. An offering I have less than zero interest in watching.

Amazon has a "with ads" streaming service with FreeVee. There's content only available on FreeVee after going away from Prime. When I started watching FreeVee content the ads were very short, 30 seconds or less. Now increasingly the ad content is growing longer and longer, 90 seconds and more. It wouldn't be so annoying if the inserted ads didn't cut off the content in the middle of a character talking or a music "sting." Same problem I've noticed happening on Peacock and their "with-ads" content.

Amazon promises the ads will not be obtrusive for former Prime ad-free content; at first that "promise" will be kept. Also likely the content be as badly synced as FreeVee, and as time goes on the length of the "station breaks (ads)" will increase.

"But it's only $36 at year, $2.99 a month. That's a pittance!" Now it is. In the future, likely very near future, the rate will increase, almost guaranteed. And the Prime membership will increase as well. That has been a semi-regular occurrence multiple times; time to renew more money with "benefits" I could do without.

Re: the Amazon interface....I use the Amazon Prime app on my Comcast/Xfinity cable boxes. The interface is different than the on-Comcast cable box Netflix app, but for me it isn't "horrible." Neither interface makes it easy to find (search) content IMO.

 

[rarenight]

A think an important question is what will AS do on 1/29/2024? Will AMZ even work? Will ads come through? If not, will timing of subtitles get goofed up? (They don't for FV.) I think I'll wait to see what AS says about how it will work before I decide to pay an extra $3/mo.

I mostly agree with what's been said here, especially on the 2-day shipping, which is not really a thing anymore. (Even when you happen to order something with same-day or 1-day shipping, oftentimes it doesn't arrive on time. But I digress.)

The interface has changed over time. It is worse now, with "pay" and "free" mixed together. It's offensive, but what are you going to do?

I also wonder: what if, say, you get STARZ as part of AMZ. Will that get ads too?

[I edited this post after I first posted it.]

Seems like these questions were answered with today's 18.0.1 upgrade. Amazon recently updated their backend in preparation to send video ads in-between chunks. It required significant refactoring on AnyStream's end (with a few bugs that still need to be ironed out) but materially nothing has changed in terms of end-user functionality.

In my opinion, blatantly anti-consumer moves like Amazon Prime introducing ads increases AnyStream's value proposition. I fully understand why AnyStream is raising their prices and migrating to one-year licenses for new users now. Corporate greed is AnyStream's gain. I personally would much rather grab a show myself and stream it over Plex than suffer through ads or pay Amazon a bullshit $36 yearly inflation tax when Amazon Prime is already expensive as hell and recently increased in price.

 

[robv14001]

anti-consumer moves like Amazon Prime introducing ads increases AnyStream's value proposition

I agree.

I personally would much rather grab a show myself and stream it over Plex than suffer through ads

It's worse than that in my opinion. Because of the "AP ad thing" accommodated in 1.8.0.1 (pending possible tweaks), I watched the last episode of Reacher (s02e08) last night using the official AP app (instead of downloading with AS and watching in Plex). I had to wade through previews, ads for providers, etc. I couldn't even turn them off. All the AP app gives you now is the ability to mute the sound of previews. But the preview video still plays. The interface is so cluttered with garbage (that I have absolutely no interest in knowing about, viewing, etc.) that it's aggravating and gets in the way of doing what I want to do in the app, which last night was to calmly watch one episode of one show. (I chose to suffer the app, instead of waiting for the inevitable AS accommodation, because it was the Reacher season finale, and I wanted to know how it ended.)

As an aside on burning money, I find most (not all, e.g., Reacher) AP originals uninteresting.

 

[George++]

Today was the beginning of the Prime Video Ad deluge. It took several hours for the ads to start intruding in a streaming video.

As I predicted the ad breaks are set to occur at very inopportune moments. Even TV shows with natural pauses for ads Amazon IT set the breaks so music and dialog are cut off in the middle and then awkwardly start up afterwards.

So far the ad lengths are 15-20 seconds, but I fully expect that to increase as time goes on.

I already pay a butt-load of money for my annual Prime subscription, I ain't paying $2.99 (plus tax) extra a month to regain something I was already paying for.

The more money streaming service want for low quality play-back the less I am inclined to continue paying, let alone shelling even more money.

 

[whatever_gong82]

Today was the beginning of the Prime Video Ad deluge. It took several hours for the ads to start intruding in a streaming video.

As I predicted the ad breaks are set to occur at very inopportune moments. Even TV shows with natural pauses for ads Amazon IT set the breaks so music and dialog are cut off in the middle and then awkwardly start up afterwards.

So far the ad lengths are 15-20 seconds, but I fully expect that to increase as time goes on.

I already pay a butt-load of money for my annual Prime subscription, I ain't paying $2.99 (plus tax) extra a month to regain something I was already paying for.

The more money streaming service want for low quality play-back the less I am inclined to continue paying, let alone shelling even more money.

That's why I'm sticking with the Blu-ray/DVD formats. As you're aware of, with AnyDVD/CloneBD/CloneDVD2 we can decide what to keep or remove with the movie or tv show that we own.

I'll be darned if I'm going to have to watch a bunch of commercials while I'm turning on PowerDVD/VLC/MPC-HC/etc. just so I can watch my movie or show in peace.

That's why I've stopped going to the theatre. I was sick and tired of the damned commercials right before the movie, along with people on their cellphones while the movie is running, high priced drinks and popcorn, and so on.

I only use Amazon for the shipping. I don't need it for the online video stuff.

 

[George++]

I never really watched streaming either with Amazon or Netflix until shortly after Netflix was going to shut down the DVD by-mail service and then backtracked. Most of the content I watch on streaming is not originals, it is older TV shows or movies. Occasionally newer TV shows like The Good Place and movies such as the MCU when there are more than a handful available to binge.

FreeVee has several TV shows I can't find anywhere else, many not available on DVD/Bluray.

Peacock is the only service with ads that has IT people who understand where to put the ad breaks in even though a few times the ads are "out of place."

The ad "bug" telling streamers how long and how many ads on Amazon content is in the top right corner.

 

[George++]

Does AnyStream require the ad free upgrade, or can it pull content without paying the extra $3 a month?

I decided to "bite the bullet" and get an AS license though I doubt I will be using it much. I know I could have waited for a "sale," but better to go lifetime now instead of delaying the purchase until after RedFox goes renewal.

 

[George++]

I am not even sure how much benefit there is with Prime at this point. The main selling feature was 2 day shipping but that's been gone for a few years and now this.

I can still get 1 and 2 day shipping on most items, and I see a lot of same-day delivery as long as I buy at least $25 of stuff.

It helps living in the Seattle area near Amazon HQ, about 30 or miles south. About 10 miles from two of the main distribution points for the area also.

 

[DQ]

It helps living in the Seattle area near Amazon HQ, about 30 or miles south. About 10 miles from two of the main distribution points for the area also.

I think that probably more than helps.

Most things I order on Prime come within 3-5 days, sometimes 2 days happens but maybe no more than 50% of the time. Everything for years for me was 2 days until the covid thing.

 

[George++]

I have noticed the number of items that have 2 day (or less) delivery has gone down since the start of the pandemic. Not as severe as what you are experiencing.

During the Christmas holidays I found out the wife of one of my nephews works at Amazon in the entertainment division (whatever that is, I didn't follow up.) She talked about large amounts of layoffs company wide coming and already happening, etc.

Half-listening/quarter remembering her rather guarded comments makes me think she was telling me about the ads coming with Prime streaming before the emails went out, if only by a couple of days.

 

[DQ]

I have noticed the number of items that have 2 day (or less) delivery has gone down since the start of the pandemic. Not as severe as what you are experiencing.

During the Christmas holidays I found out the wife of one of my nephews works at Amazon in the entertainment division (whatever that is, I didn't follow up.) She talked about large amounts of layoffs company wide coming and already happening, etc.

Half-listening/quarter remembering her rather guarded comments makes me think she was telling me about the ads coming with Prime streaming before the emails went out, if only by a couple of days.

Layoffs are not surprising. Whenever the economy gets rough, the big corps see it coming and they start all that usually before the bad economy hits. This is why so many big firms and especially tech firms were slashing jobs by the thousands since around middle of last year. Whenever you see many big companies doing that you know some bad stuff is on the way. I am sure Ads is something that helps in the rough times but I figure they were going to do that anyway. It's "free" money as consumers are now paying more for exactly what they had before (or less). I am sure is why Disney is cracking down on sharing accounts. Although I am not sure Prime is hurting but I think Disney+ is.

 

[George++]

I have zero intention of going ad free with Amazon, ever. Sure the ad duration is at this time rather short, and the price is "only" US$36 a year. Both of those are likely to go up in the future, probably sooner than later.

The only reason why I am mid-tier ad free with NetFlix is I was grandfathered in when the company still did DVDs by mail. I was paying almost $80 a month for streaming and DVDs, with more more payments when Blockbuster still did DVDs by mail as well.