In summary:
- Amazon is replacing its $2.99 ad-free Prime Video add-on with ‘Prime Video Ultra’ at $4.99 monthly, representing a 66% price increase for ad-free viewing.
- PCWorld reports that 4K streaming will become exclusive to Ultra subscribers starting April 10, 2025, while standard Prime members lose 4K but gain Dolby Vision support.
- The Ultra plan includes five concurrent 4K streams and 100 offline downloads, significantly raising costs for users wanting premium streaming features.
It’s been a little more than two years since Amazon started charging extra for ad-free Prime Video streaming, and now that we’ve gotten used to the extra fee, it’s time for a price hike.
Amazon just announced that its $2.99-a-month add-on for removing ads from Prime Video is morphing into a new plan called Prime Video Ultra, which will set you back $4.99 a month. That’s a 66-percent price hike for monthly subscribers who formerly opted for the cheaper ad-free add-on. An annual subscription for Prime Video Ultra costs $45.99, a 23-percent discount compared to the new plan’s monthly rate.
Slated to arrive April 10, Prime Video Ultra will come with a few added benefits besides stripping away most ads (live sports and other programming will still have commercial breaks), including up to five concurrent 4K streams (up from the original limit of three) and up to 100 offline downloads (up from 25).
At the same time, standard Prime members (who get Prime Video with ads included in their subscriptions, which cost $14.99 a month or $139 a year) will see some changes too, including added support for Dolby Vision HDR, an additional concurrent video stream (for a total of 4) and double the amount of offline downloads compared to the former 25-download limit.
But for regular Prime subscribers streaming Prime Video, that’s where the good news ends. Starting April 10, 4K video streaming will become exclusive to the Prime Video Ultra plan, which means streaming quality will drop to regular-old HD, although you will get Dolby Vision support.
“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,” Amazon said in a statement.
Prime Video used to be one of the key benefits of a Prime subscription, giving streamers full access to Amazon’s Prime Video library in 4K HDR and without commercial breaks.
But all that changed in early 2024, when Amazon began putting ads in its Prime Video streams. To lose the ads, you had to pony up $2.99 a month for the ad-free add-on.
The change was particularly galling for Prime members who’d signed up for a full year just prior to the Prime Video policy changes. Some Prime members even filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon, but the case was ultimately dismissed.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, PCWorld
Ben has been writing about consumer technology for more than 20 years, and now focuses his reporting on AI as it relates to the basic human experience. His coverage of artificial intelligence interrogates the latest LLMs, and how they can be used at work and at home to be best prepared for the AI revolution. “AI is going to change our lives sooner than we think,” Ben writes. “Our best way to adapt is by using it every day.” Ben has been a PCWorld author since 2014, and has covered everything from laptops to security cameras before launching PCWorld’s AI beat. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature.