What is Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime is a paid service provided by Amazon to its customers which is an upgrade from the regular Amazon service and has many benefits and perks including, but not limited to, quicker deliveries, free shipping, prime video membership (an online video/movie streaming service), discounts on products, cashback and vouchers, etc. Let us know about Commercials Amazon prime,streaming services of amazon and why has Amazon not removed these ads for the premium buyers in this article.
Commercials on Amazon Prime
why has Amazon not removed these ads for the premium buyers?
Amazon prime has garnered millions of people to buy this premium version partly due to the streaming service it offers. Recently however there have been more and more ads that make people lose the will to watch anything. So why has Amazon not removed these ads for the premium buyers? To answer this question, we need to understand how streaming functions, in the first place.Let us know why commercials on amazon prime not removed for premium buyers.
Amazon runs 3 streaming services on its platform:
Amazon prime video, IMDb TV, now known as Freevee, and Twitch.
Amazon prime video
Out of these, Amazon prime video is a paid service for its members and until recently, one could stream videos and movies ad-free on it once they had purchased the prime version.
IMDb
Next, IMDb is a free service that doesn’t charge any fees from its viewers, but because they don’t charge money they don’t have any revenue.This is why it needs to somehow generate revenue from elsewhere and so it streams a lot of ads that sponsor and cover the service cost of this platform.
Twitch
Lastly, the online live-streaming service Twitch. It originally used to be a platform for gamers to live-stream their sessions but has expanded into a much bigger platform. Like IMDb, it follows a free-viewing model system and allows users to log in and watch content for free, but to cover costs and generate revenue it also makes the audience watch ads in between streams, causes irritation and makes viewers lose interest in the content.
Now that we have understood how the Amazon streaming system works let us understand the need for ads. Since Amazon merges the content of 3 platforms into a single one, it also needs to merge its revenue system, which is ads into one. Therefore Amazon shows ads in between or before the start of videos, like trailers before a movie, to generate revenue for the other 2 platforms too. Now, this may generate revenue for the companies but the customer base that Amazon has built is slowly crumbling due to the irregular ads that pop up without any warning. To correct this flawed strategy, Amazon should have either an ad-supported tab on the home page, where all videos/movies that are ad-free should be listed or they can just write ‘ad-supported’ under the videos that are from the IMDb or Twitch platforms so that viewers who do not want to be disturbed by frequent advertisements can skip those and enjoy their ad-free Amazon Prime experience, which they paid for.
Ads while Shopping
Now that the streaming service issue has been addressed, let us move on to the ad situation that customers experience inside the application while they shop online. Random ads appear in between clicks, so small that they can’t be avoided, and if a person accidentally clicks on it, which they can’t help, he/she gets redirected to a Google chrome page, which the ad sponsor owns, that they don’t even want to view, thus disruption their shopping. These are non-excusable ads as they belong to Amazon and no other parties are involved (unlike the streaming service merger). Even for Prime members, an ad-free experience is impossible. They do get to view lesser ads than those who have the free version but the ad-free experience for which they pay isn’t there at all, and therefore many customers just revert to the free version.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Amazon has up until now, built a large customer base via its premium membership and it enjoys steady revenue from it, but this can be disrupted shortly, as people are starting to reach the end of their patience and newer viewing platform that offer an ad-free experience are popping up, which can cause Amazon’s prime membership to capsize. To tackle these problems, Amazon should implement newer and more ad-less policies and measures in place to stay ahead in the market and not lose their customers.
FAQs
1. How much does the Amazon Prime membership cost?
In the US, Amazon prime membership costs $15 a month, or you can purchase the annual pack for $139.
2. Why am I being charged for Prime videos when I have Prime?
Some Prime video channels are not included in the Prime subscription, for example, Lions Gate play. They are third-party platforms that you’ll have to buy separately.
3. Is there any way to stop seeing ads on Amazon prime without paying extra for it?
No, to completely stop seeing ads, one will have to pay extra.
