Amazon Prime Video's 2025 Ad Increase (& How To Go Ad-Free) Explained

Amazon Prime Video is showing more ads in 2025, and it's going to cost customers who can't stand the constant barrage of advertisements. Prime Video is one of the major streaming services available to users, and its association with the multinational technology company means it's always been one of the easier streaming services to sign up with. Prime already has some impressive perks, so an additional streaming platform always felt like a huge win, particularly considering the impressive library of third-party titles and original television series and movies.

For only $14.99/month, users can get access to free shipping, Amazon deals, and the Prime Video streaming app. It's a pretty great deal. Of course, one of the biggest questions when it comes to what streaming service to get, one of the biggest sticking points people have is ads. Binge-watching is a classic way to consume TV and movies, but nothing gets in the way of a lazy Sunday binge like a series of advertisements. Amazon is as much an advertising company as it is anything, but Prime Video always seemed immune to the deluge, until 2025.

Why Amazon Prime Video Is Showing More Ads In 2025 (& What They Look Like)

Prime Video Now Has Ads Before And During Episodes And Movies

Starting in 2025, Amazon Prime Video has begun showing more advertisements on its service (via THR). In 2024, Amazon suddenly added ads to the accounts of all Prime Video users. With one move, Prime became the largest as-supported subscription streaming service in the world and ended up securing more than $1.8 billion in upfront commitments for 2025. Amazon advertising executive, Kelly Day, said Amazon planned to increase advertising on Prime but that the ad load would, "ramp up a little bit," but the company expected the ad load to remain relatively light compared to how it was previously.

Advertising has been big business for Amazon and while most of its ad revenue comes from its retail business, Prime Video is expected to draw significant growth in the future. Starting on January 29, 2024, the standard Prime Video plan suddenly had unskippable ads before and during shows and movies (via PCWorld). As frustrating as the ads are for some users, Prime Video held out much longer than other streaming platforms like Max, Netflix, and Disney+ which have long had ad-supported tiers. The ads vary in length, and feature an assortment of products, shows, and more.

Amazon Prime Video Offers Ad-Free Upgrades

Prime Video Subscriptions Now Include Ads By Default

Amazon Prime on its own costs $14.99/month or $139/year, with the Prime Video membership on its own costing $8.99/month. For students, Amazon Prime costs $7.49/month or $69/month. When other streaming services have added ad-supported subscription tiers, they've usually raised prices on their premium tiers, forcing users to decide between paying more immediately, or changing their subscriptions and receiving ads.

Amazon Prime Video inserted ads into the only available Prime tier, whether users wanted it or not. In order to remove these ads, and return the Prime Video subscription to the way it was previously, users will need to pay an additional $2.99/month. Whether that cost is justified or not is up to the individual user. It's possible that Amazon Prime Video will eventually introduce multiple plan tiers, but for now, the one and only plan has ads by default.