Amazon Prime Video to introduce ads in shows & movies in India

Amazon Prime Video will start incorporating ads in its shows and movies for Indian viewers from 2025, as part of a global expansion plan that includes other regions like Brazil, Japan, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. This move, announced at unBoxed 2024, aims to raise funds for content investments while offering an ad-supported viewing option alongside the existing ad-free model. The current Prime membership fee will remain unchanged for those opting for ads, while pricing details for the ad-free version are yet to be disclosed.

This strategy underscores the intense competition in India’s OTT market. The subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) segment has faced challenges, with the audience growth shifting towards ad-supported platforms. The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2024 revealed that while the overall OTT audience in India grew by 14% to 547.3 million, the SVOD audience shrank, while the AVoD audience surged by 21%.

Regional OTT platforms like Aha are also gaining traction, adding more competition to the landscape. Prime Video is also up against Netflix, which last year engaged in a subscription pricing war with Amazon to capture a larger share of India’s growing digital content consumers.

Prime Video had already introduced ads in the U.S. and other markets earlier in 2024. Amazon’s recent acquisition of MX Player, which will be integrated into its ad-supported miniTV service, is another step to strengthen its foothold in the competitive AVoD market.

When it comes to monthly subscription pricing, Amazon Prime Video has maintained a competitive edge. Currently, a monthly subscription for Amazon Prime in India costs ₹299, which provides access to Prime Video, along with other Amazon services like Prime Music, Prime Reading, and faster delivery on Amazon e-commerce.

In contrast, Netflix has adopted a more segmented pricing strategy. The Netflix mobile-only plan is priced at ₹149 per month, making it accessible to a large base of smartphone users. However, its Basic plan, which allows access to Netflix content on any device but only in SD quality, costs ₹199 per month. The Standard plan, offering HD streaming on two devices simultaneously, is priced at ₹499 per month, while the Premium plan, which provides Ultra HD (4K) streaming on four devices, costs ₹649 per month.