Amazon Prime Video to introduce ads in India from 2025
Prime Video will feature limited advertisements, aiming to offer fewer ads than linear TV, while providing an ad-free upgrade. No changes to Prime membership pricing in 2025.
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Amazon Prime Video will begin introducing advertisements during its shows and films for Indian subscribers in 2025. For those seeking an ad-free experience, the platform will launch a new premium subscription tier at a higher price.
Meanwhile, the current Prime membership fees will remain unchanged for users opting for the ad-supported version, and Prime Lite subscribers will continue to see ads as part of their existing plan, with more details to be revealed closer to the launch date.
The decision aligns with trends in the subscription video on demand (SVOD) segment, which has shown signs of stagnation amid evolving consumer behaviour.
The latest Ormax OTT Audience Report for 2024 highlights the shift in India's over-the-top (OTT) landscape, with the overall audience base growing by 14% year on year, reaching 547.3 million users, or 38.4% penetration. The growth has been entirely driven by the advertising video on demand (AVOD) sector, which expanded by 21%, while the SVOD segment experienced a 2% decline.
“To continue investing in engaging content and increasing that investment long-term, starting in 2025, Prime Video shows and films in India will feature limited advertisements. We plan to offer significantly fewer ads than what is seen on linear television and other streaming platforms. Additionally, we’ll introduce a new ad-free option and share pricing details later,” Amazon stated in a blog post.
The platform assured that it would not alter current Prime membership fees in 2025. Members will receive notifications via email several weeks before ads are introduced, including instructions on signing up for the ad-free option if desired. Prime Lite subscribers will continue enjoying the full Prime Video library with ads on a single device, whether TV or mobile, in 720p HD.
Since its launch in India in December 2016, Prime Video has cemented itself as a leading entertainment platform, offering a vast selection of Indian and international films, popular shows, award-winning Amazon Originals, add-on subscriptions, and film rentals.
The platform is part of Amazon's broader OTT ecosystem, which includes the AVOD service Amazon MX Player, Prime Video Channels, and a film rental service.
Amazon's move to introduce ads in India follows a similar rollout in the US and other countries starting in early 2024, where an ad-supported tier was added alongside the ad-free subscription model. This development also comes in the wake of Amazon's consolidation of two ad-supported streaming services, Amazon miniTV and MX Player, into a unified service known as Amazon MX Player. This move followed the company's acquisition of certain assets from its former rival MX Player, including its apps and select content.
