I think most Amazon Prime Video users were at least mildly annoyed when the streaming service introduced ads a few months ago. While there is an option to pay more monthly to cut ads, I can’t imagine a large swathe of people with an Amazon Prime subscription are taking the streaming service up on it. Yes, the ads are annoying, and yes they are bumming me out in general, but the piece that is really pissing me off is probably not what you’d guess.
Look, I won’t lie, I was minorly irritated when Amazon added ads to its streaming content. I suppose the blatant push for profit on a service I know only exists as an ad-on to Amazon’s Prime shipping piece was not really a huge shock; it was probably coming sometime, but it got worse when Amazon then upped the number of ads and then threw those ads into the middle of some of its original big budget fare. I’m talking like six ads several times in the middle of some of its original programs.
But to be honest, I expect this in the current landscape we’re living in, and given Red One’s low box office returns, maybe it is what the service needs to survive and pay for its upcoming 2025 schedule projects. So whatever, ads are here, and that piece is what it is. If it bothered me that much I could cut the ads by paying an upcharge per month, which is an option. However, that’s not actually the piece that grinds my gears; the worst part is that somehow the streaming service still hasn’t figured out how to deliver a wide variety of ads.
Why Amazon Prime Video’s Ads Make Me Want To Literally Pull My Hair Out
The major problem I have with Amazon is not that it is forcing ads on Prime Video subscribers, it's because those ads have a tendency to be extremely repetitive. For example, during a recent viewing, the “limited interruptions” I saw repetitively were an Amazon ad, a Geico Q&A ad, a Ford Defender ad, a Metro T-mobile ad focusing on Apple products, A Dell AI ad (that I honestly didn’t see coming), and another for Prime Video featuring Martha Stewart.
Then do you know what happened? I saw most of them again, and again and again. To be honest, none of these ads are bad in and of themselves. Some ads in 2024 are still kind of funny, and the Geico one is among them. Plus the Defender ad capably shows its off-road capability, and I can always pretty much get behind Martha Stewart, but there’s nothing more infuriating than seeing the same ads repetitively. And throwing in the occasional new ad but upping the ante to 7 ads in a row instead of six didn't really improve my goodwill at all.
In fact, here’s a shortlist of recent projects on Amazon Prime I’ve been avoiding watching simply because I’d prefer a streaming service with less repetitive ads. (Or, you know, no ads.)
- Civil War
- The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2
- Drive Away Dolls
- The Boys Season 4
- Cross
I don’t want to sit here and tout the benefits of cable, because the way cable worked for a long time didn’t make sense. Loyal customers who stuck with services for years were nickel and dimed and continually upcharged for packages. (And now the same thing is happening with costs on streamers like YouTube TV.) Meanwhile we got more channels we didn’t want and more ads per hour as the years went by. This system sucked. I see why people wanted to disrupt it. The one place where cable is superior though is that it has figured out how to sell a wide variety of (often) high-quality ads.
Look, I get it. Other streaming services with ads have a similar problem. A lack of ad variety is a consistent problem on platforms like Hulu, and I think I could probably write a similar story with a few other streaming platforms in mind.
Still, given how much Amazon has upped its ads compared to other services, and given how repetitive its ad stack is, it’s enough that Santa maybe should have put the service on the naughty list.
