Amazon Prime Video has initiated a new plan to “fund” its contents. The plan is to use ads in between the shows as we have seen in the YouTube free version. Ad in between shows can be advantageous in terms of funding content, as Amazon claims; or it can have multiple disadvantages from the users end which will overshadow the advantages.
The platform already places ads related to new show updates when one starts watching a content. If an ad appears in the beginning, it is not that problematic for someone. One can watch the ad, or skip it; and then peacefully watch the content we are there to watch. But when ads appear in between a show, it becomes problematic. Prime video recently released Rings Of Power Season 2, with ads in between. If one wants an ad free experience for the show, one has to pay an extra amount for the same. This ruined the experience of watching the show for many people. Many times, ads came in between an important dialogue or scene to make things worse.
Now Prime Video wants to apply this strategy to all its content. If one has paid for a subscription, one is entitled for a premium ad-free experience. Amazon is using a two-fold subscription system which will be taken very negatively in India. People will not abide by watching content with ads even after paying for a subscription.
As a result, the platform will lose trust in users and their subscribers might migrate to other platforms. This will also lead to the new shows hesitating in launching their shows and films on the platform. This might turn out to be very problematic for the platform.
The platform has by far provided relevant content to people at a relatively cheaper subscription rate and subscribers seem to be happy with the platform. But, this new policy might become a huge setback for the firm in the Indian market.