Amazon Prime Video Doubles Ad Time: What It Means for Viewers

Amazon Prime Video doubles the advertising duration and probably tests the limits of its users. There is talk of up to six minutes of advertising per hour. Meanwhile, advertising -free streaming becomes a luxury, but hardly anyone pays the extrac costs.

If you use the streaming service Prime Video in the standard subscription, you will have to prepare for four to six minutes of advertising per hour. This corresponds to a doubling compared to the original advertising load of two to three and a half minutes, which Amazon announced when the advertising was introduced in January 2024. The change affects all users of the classic Prime subscription, which is available in Germany for 8.99 euros per month or 89.90 euros annually. If you want to stream completely without advertising, as is well known, you have to pay 2.99 euros per month for the advertising -free option. This increases the monthly costs for an ad -free prime to 11.98 euros per month.

As can be seen from internal documents that the specialist magazine Adweek Amazon has planned to increase the advertising period for a long time. An internal letter shows that the rollout has already started and some users may have already noticed the longer advertising blocks.

Leave customer reaction encourages Amazon

Since the introduction of advertising to Prime Video, it has been shown that the losses of subscribers were far lower than expected. In addition, less than a fifth of the subscribers opted for the advertising-free premium offer.

Amazon apparently encourages this development to further steps towards advertising -financed streaming. Amazon had originally planned with a very low level of advertising so as not to scare customers. However, this cautious strategy now gives way to maximizing profits. Just a little bit more – official teaser trailer | Prime video

Billion -dollar advertising business

The figures illustrate the importance of the advertising business for Amazon: In the second quarter of 2024, the group made $ 148 billion (around $ 129.7 billion)-of which around $ 12.8 billion (around 11.2 billion euros) accounted for. For 2025, Amazon had set itself a concrete goal of $ 1.8 billion (around 1.6 billion euros) for pretending from advertisers – a goal that has already been exceeded, according to a group source.

Amazon not only plans to advertise more, but also new advertising formats. In the future, users should be able to buy directly from Amazon via Prime Video by putting products from advertising in the shopping cart. The company argues that the additional advertising revenues are invested in better content for Prime Video.