For those who have not subscribed to Prime (and we strongly advise against it), the recent decision by the company has led to a disruptive experience, with a long stream of advertising interrupting the continuity of your viewing.
In January, if you didn't fancy ads interrupting your binge-watching, you had to cough up an extra $3 a month. That means going ad-free on Prime Video sets you back $12 a month, or $18 a month if you're all-in with Prime.
However, the company has now decided that inconvenience is not enough, and users really don’t want to watch programmes but would rather “engage with Amazon advertising.”
The brown box shifter just blurted out that they're adding some fresh ad styles to their streaming service, which they hope will get viewers clicking and shopping on Amazon rather than cancelling the service and returning to pirated content.
This year, Amazon's stepping up its ad game. If you've gone for Prime Video with ads, you'll start seeing these nifty shoppable carousel ads, interactive pause ads, and what Amazon's calling interactive brand trivia ads.
Amazon's reeling in advertisers to splash their cash on these new spots that'll pop up on most of the stuff you watch on Prime Video, no matter where you're streaming it. Of course, the advertisers are not aware that many of us are noting who is doing this advertising and making a mental note never to buy their products, but we are sure that is not what Amazon is telling them.
These new ad gimmicks let you add products straight to your Amazon basket. The carousel ads nudge you to shop a whole parade of products when the show takes a break. This means you can see an advert pause your show so you can go to the Amazon store and buy it.
Such an atrocity could only have been dreamed up by an advertising person with no family, life, or interests other than flogging adverts.
Unfortunately for Amazon such meat axe employees end up killing their business. After all the streaming industry only took off because there were no adverts and US television had them every 10 minutes.