Amazon to Roll Out Ads on Prime Video in India Starting June 17
Amazon has confirmed that its Prime Video streaming platform in India will begin showing ads during movies and shows starting June 17, 2025. The move follows similar ad rollouts in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada over the past year.
Indian Prime members received email notifications on Tuesday regarding the introduction of “limited advertisements” on Prime Video. While Amazon first hinted at this shift in October 2024, it hadn’t previously disclosed a specific launch date.
To offset the ad experience, Amazon is offering an optional ad-free add-on for existing Prime members. The introductory pricing for the ad-free upgrade is set at ₹699 per year (around $8) or ₹129 per month (about $1.52). Additional details about the features or content limitations of the add-on are yet to be shared.
The company has already seen success with a similar model in the U.S., where a $3 monthly ad-free add-on helped Amazon secure over $1.8 billion in ad commitments. Currently, more than 130 million users in the U.S. are watching ad-supported content on Prime Video—up from 115 million the previous year.
In India, Amazon also owns MX Player, another ad-supported streaming platform it acquired from Times Internet. The platform offers users the option to reduce ads through a subscription plan, contributing to Amazon’s broader strategy to boost ad revenue in the country.
Currently, Amazon Prime subscriptions in India start at ₹299 per month ($3.50) and go up to ₹1,499 annually ($17.57), depending on the plan.
Amazon isn’t alone in embracing ad-supported streaming in India. Competitors like Netflix and Disney+ have also launched similar plans globally, aiming to strike a balance between revenue and user growth.
As India remains a key growth market for streaming platforms, Amazon’s latest move indicates a growing shift toward monetizing audiences through hybrid pricing strategies.
