Paying more to stream | What the Tech?
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — If you’re an Amazon Prime Video customer, you’re now either going to pay more or deal with more advertisements.
Amazon says the ads will roll before the start of a movie as well as a few times during the movie or show.
How many commercials are unclear.
Amazon only says it aims to show “meaningfully fewer” ads than regular TV. If it’s similar to FreeVee, Amazon’s free ad-supported service, it’ll be about 6 minutes of commercials per hour.
Hulu’s ad-supported plan is similar.
If you're an Amazon Prime Video customer, you're now either going to pay more or deal with more advertisements.
Watching the movie “Triangle of Sadness,” Hulu showed two minutes of non-skippable ads every 15 minutes.
One problem, though? The commercials just pop up at random times. Often as actors are in mid-sentence.
Amazon joins Hulu, Disney+ and Max, which have added ad-supported tiers in recent months.
Hulu and Disney+ will raise prices beginning October 12. Ad-free Hulu will cost $18 a month while ad-free Disney+ will be $14 a month.
Amazon will add ads starting early next year. If you prefer, you can pay an extra $3 a month to skip the ads in both shows and movies.
One way to look at it is if you want Amazon Prime and uninterrupted TV like you have now, an Amazon Prime membership will be $176 a year.
Amazon says it’ll use the extra revenue to develop more shows and movies from its studio.
Netflix also has an ad-supported subscription that is worth $7/month. That’s half the cost of the ad-free subscription.
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