You pay for Amazon Prime, and you love it. Not only do you get access to free shipping and one/two-day shipping through Amazon, but you also get many additional benefits like Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Amazon Photos. Life’s good.
But recently on Amazon Prime you may have started to see some ads popping up. And quite rightly you’ll be asking yourself ‘why am I getting ads on Amazon Prime when I already pay for it? Since when were Amazon Prime ads a thing?’.
Let’s take a look and see exactly what’s going on.
Quick Links
- Why am I seeing ads on Amazon Prime Video?
- Why am I seeing ads on Amazon Prime product listings?
- Closing thoughts
- Frequently asked questions
Why am I seeing ads on Amazon Prime Video?
The first place we’ll look at for these new Amazon ads is Amazon Prime Video, as this is probably the place you’ll first come across ads you haven’t seen before and weren’t expecting to see.
To answer this question, we first need to differentiate between the types of content available through Prime Video.
Amazon Original Programming
First of all, there is the original programming content. This is the content that is ad-free and included with your prime subscription, and includes things like The Boys, Good Omens, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Also included here is the content made by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), which Amazon bought back in 2021. This means the James Bond franchise is now available on Prime Video without ads, as well as Rocky, Fargo, and Robocop, amongst others.
It’s important to note here that when you load an original series or original movie, you will see a short skippable preview for another piece of Amazon original programming.
This is not classed as an advert by Amazon, despite it advertising something else.
Amazon Exclusives
In addition to the Amazon Originals, there is also the Amazon exclusive content, which is not owned by Amazon, but they have the exclusive right to distribute it.
To us, this content is no different to Amazon originals, and we will not see ads when watching Amazon Exclusives.
Examples of Amazon exclusive content would be The Lord of the Rings, which Amazon have the exclusive TV rights to, but does not own directly.
Third-Party Content
Finally, we have third-party content, which is not owned by Amazon, nor does Amazon own the exclusive rights to it, but it can still be accessed and watched through Prime Video.
This is the content where you are likely to see ads while watching.
Looking at the screenshot of the Prime Video homepage again, there is a section (highlighted) called Freevee.
Freevee, which used to be called IMDb TV, is an Amazon owned company that has its own original content, but more importantly also has programming licensed from third parties.
This is where you will encounter ads. Prime Video does warn you ahead of time, stating that the content in the Freevee section consists of “popular movies and TV – free with ads”, but it can still be frustrating when you’re paying a subscription AND having to watch ads at the same time.
Amazon’s justification for this is that the ads you watch allows them to provide a premium selection of movies and TV shows for free.
Prime Video Homepage
In this section we also have to mention the Prime Video homepage.
When you first log in to Prime Video, you are immediately hit with a large banner ad across the top of the page.
While technically an advert, this will only ever advertise Amazon Prime subscriptions or highlight content already available on Prime Video.
Why am I seeing ads on Amazon Prime Product Listings?
As well as Prime Video now containing some advertising, Amazon has also been placing product advertising in their search results, whether you have Amazon Prime or not.
These Amazon ads take the form of sponsored products, as you can see highlighted below.
As explained by Amazon themselves, sponsored products are “cost-per-click (CPC) ads that promote individual product listings on Amazon”.
These Amazon sponsored ads can be shown at the top of the product search results, but also alongside or within the shopping results and individual product pages.
Sadly, having an Amazon Prime subscription won’t save you from seeing these sponsored ads, and you cannot choose to opt-out of seeing them.
Like it or not, Sponsored Products are here to say.
Closing Thoughts
As annoying as Amazon ads can be, I think we all knew that they would inevitably be introduced in an ever-expanding way to the platform.
In fact, if we just look at the advertising revenue they’ve brought in during each of the last three years (courtesy of Statista), we can see their ads revenue has ballooned from roughly $12.6 billion in 2019 to a massive $31.1 billion in 2021.
And this should make you think – there are only two ways this growth in advertising revenue can be happening. Either the ads are becoming more effective, and thus advertisers are spending more on them, or Amazon is choosing to display more ads on the platform.
And while the first point may be true, this article should serve as evidence that the second point is the most likely – even for Prime subscribers!
Frequently Asked Questions
How to get rid of ads on Amazon Prime?
Sadly, Amazon Prime users are unable to opt-out of any advertising they see on the platform, even with the Prime subscription.
You are able to opt-out of interest-based ads (aka personalised or targeted ads), however this will not stop you from seeing ads altogether – the personalised ads will simply be replaced by non-personalised ads.
How to stop ads on Amazon Prime Video?
Amazon Prime Video ads are unable to be removed.
As explained above, the ads that appear on the free third-party content like Freevee cannot be removed despite an Amazon Prime subscription, however this third-party content is the only content on Prime Video that you will see ads against.