Prime Video has quietly made a change to its streaming service…and it’s a change that’s sure to irritate audiences everywhere. When the streaming service first introduced ads in January 2024, one of its perks, compared to other streamers, was that the marketing load would be light. Amazon promised it would be just two-to-three and a half minutes per hour, according to Adweek. But now, not even two years later, that has changed, and if you’re one of the users who thought it was strange seeing double the amount of ads that you usually saw, your eyes weren’t deceiving you. Adweek reviewed documents and talked to six ad buyers to get their findings, which showed that the current ad load on Prime Video now ranges between four and six minutes per hour. There’s a slight possibility that this change could bring down CPMs, but buyers are mostly concerned about whether this will impact user experience. Adweek also obtained an email written by an Amazon representative to a buyer that reads, “Prime Video ad load has gradually increased to four to six minutes per hour.”

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The exchange occurred earlier this month and was something the company did not reveal publicly to its customers. The increase in ads is mainly about having more inventory to sell across its highly popular and rapidly growing streaming business.
What Does Increasing Ads Mean for Users?

Prime Video

The programmatic supervisor at Rain the Growth Agency, Kendra Tang, said the change was confirmed recently, saying, “They told us the ad load would be increasing. That’s been confirmed recently when we noticed more avails in the system.” On January 8, 2025, an Amazon Ads article was posted on its official website, celebrating one year of ads being on the service and what the future holds for the then-new addition. The article also consists of an interview with Vice President of Prime Video Advertising Jeremy Helfand and Vice President of Global Video Advertising Krishan Bhatia, who discussed the driving factors around incorporating ads into Prime Video releases. Helfand said, “There was an opportunity to create a real win-win for both new and existing advertisers, as well as our viewers. With the introduction of ads, we saw a way for Prime Video to continue investing in compelling content, in addition to offering our customers greater breadth and depth of their favorite programming.” Bhatia added, “Amazon Ads offers powerful ad tech solutions, informed by first-party streaming, shopping, and browsing signals that make it easier for advertisers to drive results across the planning and activation stages of their streaming campaigns. Putting ads in Prime Video allowed us to build on that differentiator in the marketplace and offer a premium advertising solution.” Many streaming users switched to Prime, and other services, from cable, because it used to be a less expensive and ad-free way to enjoy their favorite movies and TV shows. It was their escape from annoying commercials that played too often and cable bills that were way too high. However, now those commercials (ads on streaming) and bills (streaming prices have been increasing) are following them. So, how could increasing ads benefit users? If some of the revenue from these ads is used to increase a production’s budget, that could make a show better, which could possibly mean more episodes and seasons for users to watch. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone happy with this recent, and suspiciously secretive, change. Source: Adweek