Amazon Prime users threaten to CANCEL their subscriptions as ads are rolled out for millions of UK customers - as furious viewers slam the service as 'greedy'

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the UK have reacted with outrage as they begin to see adverts for the first time.

From today, millions of UK customers will see ads at the beginning, end, and even during their favourite shows and movies.

And the only way to avoid these frustrating interruptions is to pay an additional fee of £2.99 per month.

On social media, many frustrated Amazon subscribers have slammed the streaming service as ‘greedy’.

Some have even threatened to cancel their accounts over the change, with one writing: ‘I’m definitely going to make sure this is the last month with Amazon’.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the UK have reacted with outrage as they begin to see adverts for the first time

On social media, Amazon Prime Video subscribers have reacted with outrage to the changes. Some have slammed the move as greedy while others say they will not pay extra to go ad-free

Last year, Amazon announced that it would begin to include adverts in its Prime Video streaming service.

The change only comes into effect today in the UK, one week after US customers first began to see ads.

However, on social media, Amazon Prime Video customers have already reacted with outrage to the changes.

One furious customer took to X, formerly Twitter, writing: ‘Honestly, Amazon putting ads on existing prime accounts is disgusting behaviour, greedy ********’.

The changes prompted one commenter to ask: ‘How greedy can one be?’

Meanwhile another wrote: ‘@amazon just getting greedy. The only reason for the Prime was all the included features, now it’s just a shipping service.’

Some commenters slammed Amazon’s changes on social media, calling the decision to include advertisements ‘disgusting behaviour’ and asking ‘how greedy can one be?’

Amazon Prime Video is one of the extras included free with an Amazon Prime subscription, and there will be no change to service’s monthly pricing.

This means that existing customers will continue to pay £8.99 ($11.34) per month or £95 (£119.87) per year for the service.

To continue watching the service ad-free customers will now need to purchase an additional subscription at £2.99/month or £35.88/year.

This brings the total cost of a subscription to a little under £12/month.

Many commenters on X say they are unwilling to pay the extra cost of watching ad-free, with some even threatening to cancel their accounts altogether.

Other Amazon Prime Video subscribers wrote that they would prefer to cancel their subscription entirely, rather than face adverts or pay more to remove them

How much does Amazon Prime video cost in the UK?

Amazon Prime Video is one of the additional services that Amazon Prime subscribers receive for free as part of the subscription package.

Currently this costs:

Standard: £8.99/month or £95/year
Student: £4.49/month or £47.49/year

However, to remove adverts from the service, subscribers will now need to pay for an ad-free subscription.

This costs an additional £2.99/month or £35.88/year.

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One commenter wrote: ‘”Would you like to pay an additional £2.99 to remove the ads we’ve now shoehorned into your paid service?” No I would not, Amazon. You make enough money, **** off.’

Another said that they were ‘about to cancel Amazon prime since they wanna be greedy’.

One frustrated commenter shared an image of their Amazon Prime Video account offering them the choice to ‘Go ad free’.

In a post on X, they wrote: ‘So I already pay for #Prime and now I have to pay more to not have ads?

‘I think it’s time to cancel altogether and spend my money elsewhere.’

Other users were more blunt, simply writing: ‘I will not be renewing Prime at my next annual renewal.’

‘If I have to pay for ads, why am I paying for the streaming service? I’ll just use an ad blocker for a month and cancel’, wrote another.

The changes to Amazon Prime Video come after both Netflix and Disney+ introduced adverts into their streaming service.

However, the main difference between their approach is that these services both introduced a lower-priced subscription tier which included ads rather than making adverts standard.

Social media users questioned why it would be worthwhile to pay more to get the quality of service they had been receiving until very recently

Amazon’s decision follows similar moves by Netflix and Disney+ which both added cheaper subscription tiers which include adverts (stock image)

Netflix introduced a cheaper subscription tier with ads that customers could choose to purchase at £4.99 per month.

Similarly, Disney+ introduced an ad tier, first for US users in December 2022, and then in the UK and eight other European countries in November also at £4.99 per month.

The total cost of an Amazon Prime subscription plus the additional cost of going ad-free will also be more expensive than a standard Netflix account or Premium Disney+ account which both cost £10.99 per month and do not include adverts.

Amazon also notes that paying to go ad-free will not remove all adverts from the platform.

Some titles will still include ‘promotional trailers that run before a movie or TV show’ which will be skippable with a paid ad-free subscription.

In addition, live events, such as sports fixtures, and any content offered through Amazon Freevee where available will continue to include advertising.