The number of ads on Amazon Prime Video has doubled in less than 18 months

A hot potato: Do you feel like Amazon Prime Video has more ads than it used to? It's not your imagination. The streamer has reportedly increased the amount of ads to nearly double the number it showed when the basic tier became ad-supported.

Amazon promised "limited advertisements" when it announced the controversial change to bring commercials to its Prime service, forcing customers to pay an extra $2.99 on their subscription to remove the interruptions.

The ads arrived on Prime in January 2024 at a rate of two to three-and-a-half minutes every hour. But according to Adweek, which cites six ad buyers and documents reviewed by the publication, that rate has increased to four to six ads per hour – double the initial load in less than 18 months.

Adweek writes that Amazon had informed investors of the increased ad load but not publicly acknowledged the change to customers. It ...