Let’s be honest: Prime Video’s new “limited ads” experience in India feels less like a mild inconvenience and more like a full-blown interruption strategy masquerading as innovation.
A 40-minute episode now comes with ads that stretch to 45 seconds, a remarkable jump from the earlier 15-second format. And this isn’t an isolated complaint. It’s becoming clear that Amazon is testing the elasticity of viewer patience, pushing intrusive ad lengths while continuing to market them as “limited.”
Combine that with the long-standing frustration over Dolby Vision support missing from Prime Video India, and you have a platform that keeps taking away more than it gives.
Meanwhile, global users get DV, HDR10+, faster rollouts, and a cleaner ad experience.
It’s no surprise that some viewers are quietly turning to alternatives, legal and otherwise. If Plex downloads, DV-encoded backups, and self-managed libraries are becoming the norm, it’s not because people don’t want to pay. It’s because mainstream platforms are making the paid experience feel worse than the free one.
Prime Video’s entire value proposition was built around convenience and affordability. But when a paid subscriber begins to feel like they’re watching broadcast TV with unskippable ad blocks, the platform has a real problem.
Streaming was supposed to evolve beyond the shortcomings of cable TV. Instead, Prime Video’s “limited ads” experiment seems to be dragging the experience backwards, and taking user goodwill along with it.
The irony? Viewers aren’t complaining loudly. They’re simply… leaving.
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