Amazon will roll out ads on Prime Video from January 29 - and users who don't want them will have to pay extra each month

Amazon has finally revealed when adverts will start arriving on its Prime Video subscription service.

In the US, customers will start seeing ads on January 29, but in the UK users will see them a week later, on February 5, the tech giant said.

Those who don’t want ads interrupting their chosen content will have to pay an extra $2.99/£2.99 per month – a move slammed by customers as ‘greedy’.

Amazon will then roll out adverts to users in other countries later in 2024.

Amazon’s move follows rivals Netflix and Disney+, both of which have rolled out ads to their cheapest subscription options since last year.

Amazon Prime Video users will soon have to endure adverts on shows and movies unless they subscribe for an ad-free tier at a higher cost

Amazon revealed the dates adverts would arrive in an email to customers sent in the past few days.

But the date in the email was different depending on where the recipient was based – January 29 for US users and February 5 for UK users.

‘Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements,’ the firm says in the email.

‘This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.

‘We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.

‘No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership.’

Amazon is yet to confirm how ads on Prime will work, but they’re expected to appear before and even during content.

MailOnline has contacted Amazon for more information.

Ads will come to Amazon Prime Video in other countries later in 2024, including France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia.

Amazon announced the decision back in September to bring adverts to its streaming platform but only now has it revealed dates.

Furious Prime users took to X (Twitter) to criticise the move, with one describing it as the ‘final nail’ in the coffin of his subscription.

Furious Prime users took to X (Twitter) to criticise the move, with one describing it as the ‘final nail’ in the coffin

One X user described Amazon execs as ‘clowns’ who are ‘greedy beyond all comprehension’

Another said: ‘Amazon Prime Video introducing ads is really validating my decision to kill my Amazon Prime subscription this year.’

Another described Amazon execs as ‘clowns’ who are ‘greedy beyond all comprehension’.

Yet another said: ‘Amazon Prime Video introducing ads is really validating my decision to kill my Amazon Prime subscription this year.’

Amazon Prime Video is one of the products that customers get when they subscribe to Amazon Prime, the tech giant’s paid subscription service.

Amazon said it won’t be making changes to the current price of Prime, so customers who don’t mind seeing ads when they’re watching Prime Video won’t have to pay more money.

However, for those customers who don’t want to see ads, they will have to pay an extra fee – $2.99 or £2.99 per month.

Amazon is just one company trying to maximize income from its video streaming service, as both Netflix and Disney+ have recently introduced ads, which bring in millions of dollars from advertisers.

Amazon’s move follows rivals Netflix and Disney+, both of which have rolled out ads to their cheapest subscription options in the past year

Netflix’s ad-supported tier – ‘Basic with adverts’ – launched in November 2022 and it was originally an alternative option to the existing ‘Basic’ tier for £6.99.

However, earlier this year Netflix got rid of this Basic tier – which didn’t show ads – in an attempt to force users towards the ad option.

Disney+ followed suit by introducing an ad tier, first for US users in December 2022, and then in the UK and eight other European countries this November.

Disney+ also announced a crackdown on password sharing, following a similar move from Netflix.

Ads on Netflix and Disney+ last an average of four minutes per hour, so the fact Amazon promises ‘meaningfully fewer ads’ suggests this will be less on Prime Video.