Amazon to hike price of ad-free Prime Video tier by $2 a month

In this articleAmazon is bumping up the price of its ad-free Prime Video offering in the U.S. by $2 a month, the company announced Friday. The service will now cost $4.99 a month, up from $2.99 a month, starting April 10. As part of the price hike, Amazon is rebranding the ad-free tier as "Prime Video Ultra," and said it's adding more features to the subscription, like the ability to watch content on five devices simultaneously, up to 100 downloads and 4K streaming."Delivering ad-free streaming with premium features requires significant investment, and this structure aligns with other major streaming services while ensuring customers have the flexibility to choose how they want to watch," the company wrote in a blog post.Amazon first introduced ads on its Prime Video streaming service in 2024. Customers who want to watch shows or movies without ads have to pay an additional monthly cost. That includes members of Amazon's Prime program, who pay $139 a year for the subscription service. When Amazon began charging users extra for ad-free streaming, analysts questioned whether it would cause Prime members to dump their subscriptions. The move prompted some Prime Video subscribers to file a class-action lawsuit, which was dismissed last year.Amazon has said the number of Prime subscriptions continues to grow. In its earnings report last month, the company said Prime Video maintained an average ad-supported audience of more than 315 million viewers globally, up from 200 million as of April 2024. Advertising revenue for 2025 rose 22% year over year to $68.6 billion, according to Amazon's latest annual filing. Amazon is third in the digital ad market, trailing Google and Meta. WATCH: Amazon Prime spends big for NBA gamesGot a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inboxGet this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.© 2026 Versant Media, LLC.

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