With other platforms going this route, it was inevitable. At least they're giving people the choice to pay more for an ad-free tier like most other platforms and not just doing a flat rate increase on the Prime membership. From what I've heard, Amazon has lost a ton of money on Alexa and Twitch is unprofitable. Don't get me wrong, they still make massive profits from their core business and could probably afford to not do this.
My fam uses Amazon Prime for purchases without shipping costs constantly. The Prime Video "perk" has always been a joke. We watch something there maybe once or twice a year (e.g., The Boys). I don't actually consider Prime Video a real service, just something to help people justify the $100+ Prime shipping cost per year. A lot of what is offered is available elsewhere as well.
And they keep presenting up more and more things from Freeve or something, which is another service for movies with ads, instead of offering unique content. It's not even a concern for them.
All these streaming services with imposing ads and premiums to remove ads with price increases are just making pirating shows and movies cool again. It’s OK. We’re bringing it back.
Yeah it's some bullcrap. People are canceling prime in huge numbers based on reddit. I've had it since the beginning and been a fairly loyal shopper since 1998 but I freaking hate them and this change is just awful. I'm probably going to drop my prime next month when the renewal comes up. If enough people do it, they'll fix this. They need to start making people pay for things where it matters, not forcing us into ads for stuff we already own.
