Amazon's Prime Video to start showing commercials in February

It will cost $2.99 a month for Canadian viewers to opt out of ads on Amazon's Prime Video starting in February.

Company representatives told The Canadian Press they will introduce commercial breaks to TV shows on the streaming service on Feb. 5, 2024 for customers who choose not to pay extra.

Prime Video first outlined plansin September to launch "limited ads."

• Amazon to move to default ad-tier model for Prime Video

• Netflix subscribers in Canada can now get a break on the price if they don't mind watching ads

The tech giant said in an email to customers that it will "aim to have meaningfully fewer ads" than traditional TV and other streaming providers, and that the ads "will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time."

Amazon's announcement follows other major streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Disney+, in introducing ads with an option to opt out by paying more.

Prime Video users in the U.S., where Amazon also operates a free, ad-supported streaming service called Freevee, will start seeing ads a week earlier than Canada, on Jan. 29, 2024.