Amazon plays a huge role in e-commerce, with millions of household products available at the push of a button, plus on-demand streaming services and more upgraded tech tools.
While watching Amazon Prime, you may have noticed commercials before your favorite shows and movies. But why are there commercials, and can you remove them? I’ve done some research, and here’s what I can tell you!
Why Does Amazon Prime Have Commercials?
Amazon Prime Video streaming service often features advertisements for IMDB TV, Amazon Prime content, and other commercial advertisements. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn these ads off within Amazon Prime Video, which has become a growing frustration for customers.
If you want to learn more about Amazon Prime streaming and how to navigate your advertising preferences, then keep reading for details about commercials on this streaming service.
What Commercials Appear On Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime Video has more than just Prime productions. Several partners offer movies and tv shows through Amazon Prime, although they aren’t labeled super clearly.
That’s why there’s often confusion as to which ads are showing up and why.
While it may seem like an Amazon Prime ad, it’s a commercial for IMDB TV or other partners like Showtime, Starz, or Lifetime Movie Club.
Amazon continues to announce new streaming content, including a new deal for exclusive streaming of Universal live-action movies around eight months after they are released in theaters.
With all these streaming partnerships, Amazon needs to advertise their shows, and because they aren’t Prime productions, the ads are considered separate.
Additionally, there have been growing reports that Amazon is also now showing ads before and during movies/tv shows on the platform of commercial providers (food, drinks, etc).
Understandably, this is causing lots of frustration for members as Amazon Prive Video is a paid on-demand service, much like Netflix (which has no ads).
Do You Have Control Over Amazon Ad Preferences?
Amazon Prime streaming works much the same as Amazon shopping.
You can update your preferences in your Amazon account by selecting your device under “manage your content.”
Once in this section, you can click to “remove offers” and update your account (you will also have to upgrade to a paid account to have the benefit).
However, after some digging, this only seems to work some of the time. It seems that Amazon can override this setting, specifically for free IMDB releases on the platform and even some Amazon Prive Video original titles.
Understandably, this has made many customers furious, as Amazon has had record products over the past few years.
Update: This feature to disable ads for Prime Video seems to not be working anymore. If you have found a fix, please comment below.
Is Amazon The Only Streaming Platform With Ads?
Amazon is catching up to Netflix in terms of streaming audience size, and often it comes down to the ad experience and what programs people want to watch.
If you’re trying to decide between all the streaming platforms, keep in mind that Amazon isn’t the only one with commercials and previews.
Although Netflix has no commercials other than previews if you choose to watch them, Hulu uses ads to keep subscription costs down.
There are different membership tiers to minimize ads, which is popular across most streaming platforms.
So, although Amazon Prime Video’s commercials for upcoming movies and TV shows may surprise you, these previews aren’t exclusive to Amazon.
Many streaming services have ads to some degree, whether for general products or related movie/TV content.
You can update your membership, but at the end of the day, it really comes down to which content offering you like the best.
Is Amazon Prime Video Worth The Money?
Amazon Prime Video is in direct competition with other big-name streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.
Despite an additional ad now and then, Amazon Prime Video is usually a worthwhile investment for those who enjoy watching regular TV and movies.
Amazon continues to promote new partnerships and deliver more big-name productions to the platform, so it’s likely that the partner commercials won’t fully go away anytime soon.
The new $1 billion deal with Universal is just one example of what Amazon has in store and why many viewers find it’s worth the subscription cost and partner previews.
With the Amazon Fire TV and Alexa technology, Amazon Prime is also popular for the convenience and reliability factor.
If you love to kick back and watch a movie, you might also be interested in seeing our related posts on if Amazon Prime Video comes in 4K, what Amazon FreeTime is, and if you keep your movies after canceling Prime.
Conclusion
Amazon Prime programs are ad-free, but you may see advertising for related movies and TV through associated channels and platforms.
It’s essentially Amazon’s way of letting you know there are more movies and TV shows to watch, even outside the official Prime offerings.
To change the way ads appear on your Amazon Prime account, you can log in to manage your content/devices and remove offers.
