Amazon Prime Video to introduce ads in shows, movies in India starting 2025

India is part of Amazon's broader expansion of ads on Prime Video, which is set to be rolled out in Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands starting in 2025.

Amazon Prime Video will start showing limited advertisements on its shows and movies in India starting in 2025, the online retail giant announced on October 15, as it looks to bolster its advertising business.

"We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear television (TV) and other streaming TV providers. We will also offer a new ad-free option and will share the price of that option at a later date," the company stated.

Amazon, which bundles Prime Video with its Prime subscription service, mentioned that it is taking this measure to continue investing in "compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time".

In March 2024, Prime Video announced its biggest India content slate, that comprises about 69 new and returning original series, original and licensed films, most of which will launch over the next two years.

Amazon, however, noted that it will not be making any changes to the price of Prime membership, which currently costs Rs 1,499, in 2025. It will also not impact Prime Lite subscribers, who currently have access to Prime Video’s full library of content, on any single device (TV or mobile) in 720p High-Definition with ads.

"We will email Prime members several weeks before ads are introduced into Prime Video with information on how to sign up for the ad-free option if they would like" the company stated. Live event content such as sports will however continue to include advertising, it said.

MX Player acquisition

This development comes on the heels of Amazon merging two ad-supported streaming services - Amazon miniTV and MX Player - into a single service called Amazon MX Player. This follows the firm's recent acquisition of certain assets from once-rival MX Player, including its apps and select content from its library.

As Moneycontrol reported earlier, Amazon MX Player will be a key part of Amazon’s strategy to boost its digital advertising revenue in the country. The company has said marquee brands such as Mamaearth, Realme, Nissan, Lenovo and WhatsApp have previously either sponsored shows on miniTV, done brand integrations within shows or purchased advertising inventory.

It's worth noting that Prime Video has been offering ad-supported television shows from Amazon's ad-supported service miniTV (now MX Player) on its service for several months now.

These moves come as the US tech giant is set to face a stiff competition in India's burgeoning video streaming market.

Walt Disney is gearing up to merge its India unit with Reliance Industries as part of a joint venture announced on February 28. The transaction combines the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India to create one of India's largest TV and digital streaming platforms. The Competition Commission of India approved the Rs 70,350-crore merger in August.

With this, two of India’s largest streaming platforms — Disney+ Hotstar, which leads the country’s subscription-based video streaming market, and JioCinema, a prominent player in the ad-supported video streaming market — will have a single owner.

The combined entity will capture about 85 percent of India’s video-streaming audience, according to analysts at brokerage firm Bernstein.

Broader rollout

India is part of Amazon's broader expansion of ads on Prime Video, which is set to be rolled out in Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands starting in 2025.

Amazon first announced plans to include ads in Prime Video in September 2023, as rivals Netflix and Disney+ also debuted similar ad-supported offerings in certain markets. It was first rolled out in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada in January 2024, with subsequent rollouts in Australia, France, Mexico, Austria, Italy, and Spain.

In the United States, Amazon is charging an additional $2.99 per month for the ad-free option.

Rival Netflix offers ad-supported subscription plans in 12 markets including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia and has garnered about 40 million subscribers as of May. The streaming service however doesn't offer these plans in India at present.

In India, Disney+ Hotstar along with other streaming platforms such as Zee5 and Sony LIV offer ad-supported plans to consumers.

Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.