Tag: amazon

Amazon’s Prime Day is a major shopping event. Even if you are not an Amazon customer, you may notice that another Prime Day is about to happen when all of your favorite sites suddenly start to list deals.

While it may be tempting to shop at Amazon during Prime Day, it is usually better to play it cool and not fall into the trap of overspending on items that you may not even need or are not the best choice.

Here are five tips.

Tip 1: Prime Day does not mean you get the best price

While news outlets and sites try to paint Prime Day in the best light possible, it is always a good idea to compare the price on Amazon with other marketplaces.

Sites like Idealo or Google Shopping help finding the best price for most products. Other options include searching for the product name using your favorite search engine or searching for items on marketplaces like eBay.

Tip 2: Make a list of what you need before Prime Day

Visiting the Amazon website or app on Prime Day is like being a kid in a candy store. Products with discounts are shown left and right, and it is easy enough to get distracted and add items to the shopping cart because they are discounted, and not because you may need them.

It is a good idea to create a list of items that you need or want to buy prior to big shopping events. I have a list of about 15 items that I would buy during Prime Day, Black Friday, or other shopping events, provided that the price is right.

Yes, that sounds like a lot of stuff, but many are replacements for items that need replacing in the coming months or the next year.

Tip 3: Do not overspend

Regardless of whether you have created a list of articles or not, it is a good idea to set a budget for Prime Day. It is quite easy to overspend during major shopping events.

Before, during, and after you add items to your shopping cart, you will see promotions or other items. It is often just a click or two to add these to the cart as well.

Even if you stick to the plan, you may overspend. Either, because you did not compare prices, or because you opted for something more expensive. Why not buy the phone with more storage, the slightly larger TV, or the video card that promises more frames? Because you may overspend in that case.

Tip 4: Do not rush yourself

Many offers may be limited. Amazon may not have endless stock of an item, and when it is gone, it is gone. While that speaks for rushing and buying immediately, rushing also means that you may not compare prices or may buy items that you do not really need, but fear missing out on.

Even if an item sells out quickly, you may still be able to purchase it at a later point in time. Black Friday is just around the corner, and so are the dozen or so other “sales” that happen regularly online.

Tip 5: Do not browse randomly

It can be tempting to check out a few categories. If you like to play Switch or PlayStation games, you may be tempted to browse deals in those categories.

Browsing may lead to buying items that you did not have any intention of buying. This may lead to overspending and you ending up with items that you may not have researched properly before buying them.

What about you? Do you buy items regularly on major shopping events such as Prime Day or Black Friday?

One of the things that I really, really dislike when it comes to watching media is ads. Unfortunately, it appears that the trend is more ads, not less.

This does not happen only in streaming. Microsoft, for example, is pushing ads like there is no tomorrow in Windows.

Streaming, however, seems to be inclined to become the new cable TV, the very thing it set out to replace when it started.

Now it is Amazon again that is pushing the boundaries on its Fire TV platform. After enabling full screen video ads on the platform some time ago, it is now rolling out screensaver ads.

Tip: you can block fullscreen video ads on Amazon Fire TV.

Amazon may display a screensaver after some time of inactivity on part of the user. The change runs a full-screen ad for 30 to 60 seconds before the screensaver is started.

Cord Cutter News reports that the change is rolling out to all recent Fire TV products. The ads show up after a certain amount of inactivity. Amazon shows a full screen video ad then that runs for up to a minute.

Cord Cutter News saw ads for AT&T and Easy Spirit footwear so far. This change appears limited to Fire TV devices in the United States for now. It is probably only a matter of time before it lands in other regions as well.

Closing Words

It will become harder and harder to find streaming TV sticks and devices that do not push advertisement to the screen. There is also a trend towards ad-powered plans. While these are optional for the most part right now, it is clear that the current trend is more ads and not less.

Amazon is reportedly integrating three new ad formats into Prime Video that advertisers may run. Among them video pause ads, something that Google has also been experimenting with on YouTube.

Prime Video used to be advertisement free. This changed in early 2024 when Amazon launched ads for all Prime customers on its platform. Customers who do not want to experience ads while watching videos can pay Amazon extra, about $3 per month, to get rid of most ads.

Amazon’s integration of ads on Prime Video differed from that of its competitors. Netflix, Disney+, and most streaming services that integrated ads on their platforms have done so using extra plans.

Netflix customers, for example, can subscribe for $6.99 in the United States to access content with advertisement. The companies did not add ads to existing plans, however.

Amazon’s new ad formats

Amazon pushed ads to all existing subscribers. Soon, those who did not cancel their subscriptions or pay extra, may experience additional ad formats on the platform.

All three are displayed either when the viewer pauses playback or during commercial breaks.

The first displays advertisement when a user pauses video playback. Translucent graphics are displayed on the screen that display text and images, and also contain options to add items to the Amazon cart or to learn more.

Amazon calls the second new ad format trivia ads. These display information about a brand to the viewer, again with options to shop products or learn more about a product. Variety reports that this format may also be linked to rewards, which customers may get when they complete purchases.

The final ad format offers a carousel type of display. Advertisers may show multiple items to the viewer. These can be explored on Amazon’s site and also purchased.

Closing Words

Streaming video started out as an alternative to cable tv. In recent time, it is turning more into the products that it set out to replace. Ads and regular price jumps are just two changes that affect millions of subscribers around the world.

You may want to check out how you, as a customer, could react to this changing landscape.

What about you? Do you subscribe to streaming services?

Amazon introduced advertisement in Prime Video in the beginning of February 2024 for all Prime subscribers. All Prime subscribers who watch Prime Video content get ads by default when they do so.

While Amazon did show trailers, another form of promotion, before shows and movies, it did not show ads on top of that up until now.

Amazon introduced an Ad Free add-on option to Prime subscribers. Available for an extra $2.99 per month, Ad Free promises do remove advertisement from the Prime Video experience. This add-on removes the “new” ads, but not trailers from Amazon Prime Video.

The introduction of video ads on Prime Video is not the only change, apparently. Prime Video subscribers who use Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos cannot use the functionality anymore by default according to reports.

In other words: only customers who pay the extra $2.99 per month get support for Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos. Amazon appears to have removed support silently and without notice.

Amazon is silent

All Amazon Prime and Prime Video subscribers are subscribed to an ad-powered plan by default now. Up until now, it appeared that this was the only change that Amazon implemented.

Amazon has received criticism for how it introduced the ad-powered plan to its service. Unlike Netflix, Disney and others, it did not introduce a new ad-powered plan that customers could subscribe to.

Instead, Amazon added ads to the regular subscription. This is a hidden price increase and users got an inferior product compared to the previous offering.

Consumer organizations in several countries are suing Amazon over this already.

If that is not bad enough, Amazon has now also removed support for Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos for all regular subscribers. Want access to the features again? That is $2.99 per month extra then, thank you very much.

Regular Prime Video subscribers are limited to a resolution of 4K, HDR10 and Dolby Digital 5.1. Those who select the Ad Free add-on will notice that they gain support for Dolby Vision HDR und Dolby Atmos 3D-Sound.

I confirmed the change on a TV at home. The German 4K Filme website noticed the change as well and verified it on three different setups.

Amazon makes no mention of the removed functionality. The Ad Free add-on reveals no information that it is required to use Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. The missing functionality is not mentioned by Amazon in any official communication either.

Closing Words

If you needed another reason to consider cancelling your Amazon Prime subscription, this may be it. In the worst case, you not only getting ads while watching content on Amazon Prime, you are also getting an inferior product to before.

When Amazon announced that it would introduce ads in Prime Video for all customers, it revealed that customers could pay a few bucks per month extra to avoid advertisement on the service.

Prime Video customers from the United States may see ads already when they view shows and movies on the platform. Soon, starting next week, customers from other regions will also see ads on Amazon Prime Video.

Amazon customers who do not want ads on the platform may purchase an add-on, which Amazon calls Ad free. It turns out now that adding Ad Free to the Amazon Prime subscription does not really remove all ads on the platform.

Amazon may show trailers for shows to customers, even if they pay for an ad free experience. Clearly, Amazon does not define these trailers as advertisement. At least some customers may have a different opinion on that, especially since it appears no longer possible to skip these to access the actual content.

When is an ad an ad?

Are trailers for other shows ads? Considering that these trailers promote other content on the platform, they can be considered advertisement.

Back in the days of DVD videos, companies used to put trailers in front of the actual film or TV show. These were often unskippable as well. Now, Amazon seems to use the very same strategy to push other shows on its platform.

At least some Amazon customers who paid the extra $3 think that this is unacceptable.

Amazon may run into trouble in other regions with the introduction of ads on the platform and the option to pay more to remove these again. In Germany, consumer protection organizations believe that this change should be considered a price increase. Price increases need explicit customer approval in Germany and several other European countries.

Several organizations plan to take legal action against Amazon. There is a good chance that the court will decide against Amazon in the case. While this may not help Amazon customers in the United States and, maybe some other regions, it may in some regions.

Closing Words

Streaming services started out as “better” replacements for Cable TV. Customers would get access to an ad-free experience for a monthly fee.

Some services showed ads on their platforms from the get-go. Amazon was one of them, provided that trailers are considered ads.

Now it seems, that streaming is quickly turning into the same behemoth that it initially thought to slay. Most major streaming platforms support advertisement plans now. These are cheaper, but viewers have to watch several minutes of ads each hour.

Streaming service hopping still works as a way to counter price increases and ads on platforms. Sign-up for just a month or two instead of longer periods, and switch services regularly. This guarantees that you don’t miss shows that you want to watch, but without breaking the bank.

Now You: do you use streaming services?