Amazon to hike price of ad-free Prime Video tier by $2 a month

Amazon to hike price of ad-free Prime Video tier by  a month


Future Publishing | Future | Getty Images

Amazon is bumping up the price of its ad-free Prime Video offering in the U.S. by $2 a month, the company announced Friday.

The service will now cost $4.99 a month, up from $2.99 a month, starting April 10. As part of the price hike, Amazon is rebranding the ad-free tier as “Prime Video Ultra,” and said it’s adding more features to the subscription, like the ability to watch content on five devices simultaneously, up to 100 downloads and 4K streaming.

“Delivering ad-free streaming with premium features requires significant investment, and this structure aligns with other major streaming services while ensuring customers have the flexibility to choose how they want to watch,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Amazon first introduced ads on its Prime Video streaming service in 2024. Customers who want to watch shows or movies without ads have to pay an additional monthly cost. That includes members of Amazon’s Prime program, who pay $139 a year for the subscription service.

When Amazon began charging users extra for ad-free streaming, analysts questioned whether it would cause Prime members to dump their subscriptions. The move prompted some Prime Video subscribers to file a class-action lawsuit, which was dismissed last year.

Amazon has said the number of Prime subscriptions continues to grow. In its earnings report last month, the company said Prime Video maintained an average ad-supported audience of more than 315 million viewers globally, up from 200 million as of April 2024.

Advertising revenue for 2025 rose 22% year over year to $68.6 billion, according to Amazon’s latest annual filing. Amazon is third in the digital ad market, trailing Google and Meta.

WATCH: Amazon Prime spends big for NBA games

Amazon Prime to spend $1.8 billion on 67 regular season NBA games
Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.



Source

Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic
Technology

Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan speaks at the digital X event in Cologne, Germany, on September 13, 2022. Ying Tang | Nurphoto | Getty Images Broadcom said Monday that it’s agreed to produce future versions of artificial intelligence chips for Google, and signed an expanded deal with Anthropic that will give the AI startup access to […]

Read More
OpenAI asks California, Delaware to investigate Musk’s ‘anti-competitive behavior’ ahead of April trial
Technology

OpenAI asks California, Delaware to investigate Musk’s ‘anti-competitive behavior’ ahead of April trial

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (L) and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. Reuters OpenAI on Monday sent a letter to the California and Delaware attorneys general, urging them to investigate “improper and anti-competitive behavior” by Elon Musk and his associates, as a high-profile trial nears between the two sides. In the letter, OpenAI strategy chief […]

Read More
Microsoft is the worst performing Mag 7 stock this year. Goldman believes that’s about to change
Technology

Microsoft is the worst performing Mag 7 stock this year. Goldman believes that’s about to change

Microsoft could gain ground as artificial intelligence seems poised to boost, rather than batter, shares of the “Magnificent Seven” stock, according to Goldman Sachs. The investment bank has a buy rating on Microsoft, with a $600 price target on shares, implying nearly 61% upside from Thursday’s close. “We believe the pace of deceleration in [Microsoft […]

Read More