As of: February 3, 2024, 10:34 a.m
By: Ansgar Wolfgart
Comments
Press
Split
The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) wants to take legal action against the streaming service.
© Silas Stein/dpa
There is an important change for customers of the streaming service Amazon Prime Video: advertising is coming.
Consumer advocates are threatening to sue.
Anyone who watches a film or series on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service from Monday, February 5th will probably be reminded of the classic television program.
From this point on, the content on Prime Video is interrupted by advertisements, similar to private television.
Amazon is thus following a trend that has affected the entire industry.
However, consumer advocates are threatening the company with legal action.
What's changing with Prime Video?
At the beginning of January, Prime Video informed its German subscribers by email that advertising would be shown from February 5th.
“This allows us to continue to invest in top entertainment and live sports content and increase this investment over the long term,” Amazon wrote in the email.
The exact duration of the advertising breaks is still unclear.
When asked, Amazon simply stated that the goal was to show significantly less advertising than conventional TV providers and other streaming services.
In the USA, where the advertising model has been running for a few days, viewers have to accept between two and three and a half minutes of advertising per hour, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Who is affected by the change?
All Prime Video users will see the commercials unless they take action themselves.
If you want to continue watching the program without interruptions, you must take out a new additional subscription.
This costs 2.99 euros per month in addition to the current subscription fees of 8.99 euros per month or 89.90 euros per year.
Why are streaming providers increasingly relying on advertising?
Competition in the streaming market for viewers' limited time is fierce.
The providers compete for attention with exclusive content such as live sports and expensive Hollywood productions.
Advertising is becoming more and more an important source of income.
The American trade publication Variety reports that, according to experts' estimates, advertising on Prime Video will bring between 1.3 and 3.3 billion US dollars into Amazon's coffers this year.
Added to this is the additional income from customers who opt for the more expensive ad-free subscription.
My news
Hundreds of thousands will receive birthday money from the state from March 2024 - who will receive the payment and how read
New survey of the most popular supermarkets: Kaufland crashes, winner jumps from 11 to 1read
Bakery chain from Baden-Württemberg has to close due to hygiene deficiencies - 160 employees have been laid off
ZDF tests meat sausage: cheap discount product delights experts
The parcel recipient makes a request to the delivery person - and receives a clear response
Selfish illegal parking blocks the sidewalk - read “lack of parking space dribbled out”.
The biggest Amazon competitors such as Netflix, Disney+ and the Sky provider Wow have been relying on advertising-financed models for a long time.
In contrast to Amazon, these providers have introduced new tariffs, while nothing has changed for existing customers.
Netflix, for example, has been offering a subscription with advertising in Germany since the end of 2022.
It currently costs 4.99 euros per month and is therefore significantly cheaper than the cheapest tariff without advertising (currently 12.99 euros).
According to Netflix, this model has been very well received by customers.
In the twelve countries where the ad-financed subscription is available, 40 percent of new customers choose it.
Amazon is now betting that the benefits of the Prime subscription for customers outweigh the annoyance of advertising.
It should be borne in mind that Amazon is primarily a platform for online mail order.
For example, as a Prime subscriber you also benefit from faster delivery of ordered products.
What do consumer advocates say?
Because Amazon does not create new tariffs like the competition, but instead wants to show advertising to all current users, consumer advocates believe the approach is illegal.
Since customers now have to pay more for the offer they originally booked without advertising, Stiftung Warentest speaks of a price increase that is not permitted without the customers' consent.
The foundation's lawyers refer to court rulings against unilateral price increases for streaming services from last year.
Stiftung Warentest has posted a sample letter on its website test.de that customers can use to defend themselves against the change.
However, the foundation points out that this alone will not be enough.
“Experiences so far show: Amazon rejects the demand.
Prime subscribers then only have to take legal action,” it says.
The Federal Association of Consumer Advice Centers (VZBV) now apparently wants to take this exact legal action.
VZBV boss Ramona Pop told the Handelsblatt that Amazon “should not simply present its customers with a fait accompli”.
She also speaks of a “hidden price increase”.
The consumer advice center has therefore already warned Amazon and is planning to file a lawsuit in the coming weeks.
Amazon itself did not comment on the allegations.
A spokesman simply said that customers are free to switch to the ad-free version or cancel their membership at any time.
The legality of the introduction of advertising on Amazon is likely to be decided in court.