Amazon announced that at the beginning of next year, advertising materials will appear in the streaming video service of this company called Prime, which will have a limited distribution scale.

The new commercial solution of the e-commerce giant, which is also developing activities in the sphere of multi-media and technology area, will affect users of the mentioned service who live in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. Over time, the practice of placing advertising materials will be scaled to other regions, including Italy, Mexico, Spain, France, and Australia. In the commercial environment, something like a generally accepted practice has already developed, according to which innovations are initially introduced in a limited user space, after which they are expanded to all consumers of the product.

The media reports that Amazon’s decision to add advertising materials to the video streaming service is an action as part of the implementation of a strategy to increase the volume of investments in content.

The company will also provide British, Canadian, German, and American users with the option of no advertising. This Amazon offer will include a monthly payment of $2.99 in the United States. The cost of the corresponding service in other countries where the project to add advertising materials to the virtual platform will be implemented will be known later. This information is contained in the company’s press release.

The intention to increase the volume of investments in content is not the only reason for the decision of the e-commerce giant to add advertising materials. In part, this initiative is an effort within the framework of a company-wide cost-cutting program.

Also, in this case, a significant influence factor is the increased competition between streaming providers. To maintain market positions, companies are introducing new formats of user interaction with virtual platforms. Some of these initiatives provide for paid access. From the point of view of a superficial analysis of such measures to increase the level of competitiveness, it can be concluded that the need to pay for services contributes to the outflow of consumers, but this is a position that exists outside the industry-wide context. In the current conditions, when all streaming services offer access to advanced functionality and additional features on a paid basis, commercial solutions are a natural and logical measure.

At the same time, there is still the possibility of user access to content on a free basis. In this case, consumers are forced to face all sorts of restrictions.

Currently, access to Amazon Prime is offered to users at a price of $139 per year. In the case of a monthly payment format, the cost of the service is $15 for the corresponding period.

Currently, many streaming platforms are reviewing their commercial policies. For example, Disney+ last month increased the cost of access to its virtual platform for the second time in a year. The fee for using the tariff plan without advertising has increased to $13.99. Hulu, in which Disney owns a controlling stake, has increased the cost of a monthly subscription without ads to $7.99. In both cases, the price increase relative to the previous indicator is $3.

As we have reported earlier, Amazon Develops New Version of Its Cashierless Shopping Technology.