Amazon to hike ad-free viewing on Prime Video in India; check new pricing tiers, rules, other details here

Amazon has confirmed that advertisements will be introduced on its OTT service Prime Video in India starting June 17. This marks a significant shift for the platform as it becomes the major international streaming service in the country to offer an ad-supported model for its already paid video streaming content.

Users will see "limited" ads during movies and TV shows, unless they opt for an additional plan that removes these ads. The optional add-on plan is priced at ₹129 per month and ₹699 annually. This plan will be available in addition to the existing Amazon Prime subscription, which costs ₹1,499 per year. This means an ad-free annual subscription would now cost users ₹2,198, which is still comparatively lower than the basic plan of Netflix that comes at ₹199 per month. The company says that it aims to ensure that this change doesn’t compromise the affordability of the core Prime membership.

Amazon has started informing its Indian customers via email, explaining that the introduction of ads will help the company continue investing in content creation. In the email, the company reassured users that ads would be fewer compared to traditional television or other streaming services. However, Amazon emphasised that no action is required from current subscribers, as the ads will be automatically included unless users opt for the new add-on plan.

This move brings Amazon's Prime Video more in line with its competitors. The recently merged JioHotstar offers both ad-supported and ad-free plans with the former going up to ₹899 per year, much lower than Amazon. Meanwhile, the ad-free plan costs ₹1499 annually. It is, however, worth noting that even its Premium subscription shows ads during live events like sports broadcasts. On the other hand, Netflix has stayed entirely ad-free, offering a range of plans from ₹149 per month (mobile-only access) to ₹649 per month for the Premium plan, which includes 4K streaming and access to up to four screens.

Additionally, Amazon offers a Prime Lite plan that provides access to Prime Video in 720p resolution but includes ads. However, it’s not yet clear whether the new ad-free add-on can be applied to the Prime Lite subscription.

As competition in India’s rapidly growing streaming market intensifies, Amazon’s decision to introduce ads could prompt users to reconsider their subscriptions. While the company assures fewer ads compared to traditional TV and other platforms, the added cost for an ad-free experience may push some subscribers to explore options from Netflix or JioHotstar, both of which offer ad-free content in their standard or premium plans.

The recent announcement makes it clear is that the days of completely ad-free content for standard Prime members are officially over.