Amazon is changing how we watch Prime Video in a big way
24-pack of toilet rolls to go with the next season of The Boys?
What are some things that can ruin a movie? Mobile phones, noisy popcorn eaters, teenagers and ads. But Amazon’s plans for ads on Prime Video are worth a shout, even if they may be the work of the devil.
Prime Video plans to add interactive adverts to its streaming apps, according to Adweek.
They are “interactive ad formats that are seamlessly shoppable,” according to Amazon Ads Vice President Alan Moss.
What this will mean in practice is you’ll be able to use your TV remote to add the product in an advert to your Amazon basket, or see more information about those products.
There’s no suggestion we’ll be hitting the checkout right from the infrared remote of your old LG TV set — yet — but as any frequent Amazon shopper knows, you can come back to the checkout after weeks only to find something in there you completely forgot about.
Ad nauseum
Does this mean you could end up ordering a Fallout Bobblehead between episodes of Fallout? We think it’s more likely you’ll see more commonly-advertised stuff in these ads. Perhaps an air fryer, one that pops up every few days despite you having bought one back at Christmas.
This is part of a new era of Prime Video viewing that arguably began when Amazon added adverts to Prime video on January 29, 2024.
You now have to pay an additional $2.99 or £2.99 a month if you want to be able to watch ad-free.
Despite Amazon being an ad leviathan, Prime was actually one of the later services to incorporate adverts. Netflix started in 2022, Disney+ in 2023, while Sky’s NOW quietly began adding ads to its service way back in 2021.
Main image credit: LG
