Amazon announced on March 13, 2026, that the cost of watching Prime Video without advertisements will rise by 67% starting April 10. The existing Ad Free subscription, currently priced at $2.99 per month, will be discontinued and replaced by a new tier called Prime Video Ultra at $4.99 per month - a $2 increase that makes ad-free streaming on the platform meaningfully more expensive than it has been since ads were first introduced in January 2024.

The announcement reframes the price increase as a feature expansion. Prime Video Ultra adds 4K/UHD streaming, Dolby Atmos audio, up to five concurrent streams, and up to 100 offline downloads - none of which were part of the $2.99 Ad Free subscription. The base Prime membership fee of $14.99 per month or $139 per year is unchanged, according to the announcement.

The price trajectory since 2024

To understand what this change means, the sequence of events matters. Before January 2024, Prime Video was included with an Amazon Prime membership and carried no advertisements. Amazon introduced ads to Prime Video in January 2024, defaulting all subscribers to the ad-supported tier and offering an ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month on top of the existing Prime membership cost. That initial move drew criticism from subscribers who felt they were paying for a service that had been changed without their consent.

A federal judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit related to that change in July 2025, ruling in part that Amazon's introduction of ads was a "benefit modification" rather than a price increase, according to reporting from Variety. That legal framing notwithstanding, subscribers who wanted the experience they had before 2024 - ad-free Prime Video included with their Prime membership - were paying $2.99 extra per month by early 2025. From April 10, 2026, they will pay $4.99.

The cumulative effect is notable. A Prime subscriber who paid $14.99 per month before 2024 and wanted ad-free streaming in 2024 was effectively paying $17.98 per month for the full experience. From April 10, that same subscriber will pay $19.98 per month. Over the course of a year, that represents $239.76 - compared to $179.88 annually in 2024 and $139 before ads arrived.

What the 67% increase buys

Amazon's framing is that Ultra is not simply a price hike but a new product. According to the announcement, the $4.99 tier includes features that were never available under the old Ad Free subscription: 4K/UHD video, Dolby Atmos audio, five simultaneous streams (up from three under the previous ad-free tier), and 100 offline downloads (up from 25). The tier also requires Prime membership or a standalone Prime Video subscription to access.

"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," according to the company's announcement.

Whether those additions justify a 67% price increase depends on what a subscriber actually uses. A household streaming in HD on two screens that never downloads content for offline viewing gains nothing functionally from the Ultra upgrade beyond the ad-free experience they previously had at $2.99. For that subscriber, the change is a $2 monthly increase for features they did not ask for.

For subscribers who do watch on multiple devices simultaneously, travel frequently, or have 4K-capable televisions and compatible internet connections, the feature additions carry real value. Five concurrent streams is notable for larger households. 100 downloads represents a significant increase for frequent offline viewers.

An annual billing option is available at $45.99 per year, which represents a 23% discount from paying $4.99 each month. That annual rate works out to $3.83 per month - lower than the previous monthly $2.99 rate on a per-month basis, though it requires paying the full year upfront.

The broader streaming price context

Amazon's price increase does not occur in isolation. Netflix raised its standard ad-free plan to $17.99 per month and its premium tier to $24.99 in January 2025. Disney+ lifted its ad-free tier to $18.99 per month in October 2025. Paramount+ raised its ad-free Premium plan to $14 per month in January 2026. Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+ all raised prices at various points during 2025.

In that context, $4.99 per month for ad-free Prime Video remains significantly cheaper than comparable tiers at competing services - though Prime Video Ultra requires an underlying Prime membership or Prime Video subscription, meaning the total cost to a Prime subscriber is $19.98 monthly, not $4.99 in isolation. A standalone Prime Video subscription also exists at $8.99 per month, to which Ultra would add $4.99, bringing that total to $13.98.

The comparison also reveals something about the structure of Prime Video's ad strategy. While Netflix and Disney+ introduced ad-supported tiers as cheaper entry points to their existing services, Amazon moved in the opposite direction - starting with a universal ad-free service and introducing ads to the existing tier, then charging extra to remove them. The practical result is the same, but the direction of travel differed.

What the standard tier gains - and what it doesn't

The announcement includes upgrades to the base Prime Video benefit for all Prime members at no extra cost. Dolby Vision support, previously available only at the ad-free tier, now extends to all Prime subscribers. Concurrent stream limits rise from three to four at the standard tier. Download allowances increase from 25 to 50. These are genuine improvements to what is included with a standard Prime membership.

What the standard tier does not gain is ad-free viewing, 4K/UHD, Dolby Atmos, a fifth concurrent stream, or downloads above 50. All of those remain exclusive to Ultra. Subscribers who previously paid $2.99 and received ad-free HD streaming now face a choice: pay $4.99 for Ultra with its full feature set, or accept the ad-supported experience with the improved - but still ad-bearing - standard tier.

Content selection remains identical across tiers. According to the announcement, all subscribers receive access to the same library of Amazon MGM Studios originals, licensed films and series, and live sports from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, NWSL, and The Masters regardless of whether they pay for Ultra. 4K/UHD and Dolby audio delivery also depend on device compatibility and internet bandwidth, not just subscription tier.

The advertising business behind the price structure

For the marketing community, the economics behind this restructuring are worth examining. Amazon's advertising revenue totaled $68.6 billion in full-year 2025, growing 22% year-over-year, with Prime Video maintaining an average ad-supported audience of 315 million viewers globally. That audience - the subscribers who do not pay for ad-free viewing - is the inventory that drives advertising revenue. Every subscriber who opts into Ultra rather than tolerating ads represents reduced advertising inventory; every subscriber who accepts ads represents continued commercial value.

Amazon's entry into the ad-supported streaming market in January 2024 contributed to significant CPM rate decreases across competing platforms, with Netflix and Disney+ experiencing CPM reductions of 26.3% and 27.6% respectively according to EMARKETER data. Amazon entered with CPM rates between $30 and $35, below competitors, driving industry-wide price pressure. The scale of its ad-supported audience - now 315 million viewers globally - gives that advertising inventory substantial commercial weight.

Amazon has progressively built advertising infrastructure around that base, including zip code-level targeting capabilities launched in October 2025 and viewership signals integrated into Amazon Marketing Cloud in November 2025. The ad-supported tier that most subscribers will continue to use is not a stripped-down experience from Amazon's commercial perspective - it is the primary product.

Raising the price to exit that ad-supported tier from $2.99 to $4.99 could be read two ways. One interpretation is that it prices out some marginal ad-free subscribers who will revert to the ad-supported tier, expanding advertising inventory. Another is that it extracts more revenue from subscribers who do value an ad-free experience. Both outcomes benefit Amazon's commercial position. As one industry analysis noted, "every subscriber who sticks with ads represents more valuable inventory. Those who can't tolerate commercials will now pay 67% more for the privilege of skipping them - a win either way for Amazon's bottom line."

US-only, April 10 launch

Prime Video Ultra launches exclusively in the United States on April 10, 2026. Amazon has not announced when or whether the tier will expand internationally. The 4K/UHD, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos features apply to Prime movies and TV shows and are subject to device capability and internet bandwidth. Live TV, live sports, and select other ad-supported content may still carry advertisements even with an Ultra subscription. Concurrent stream and download limits apply across all account profiles.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Amazon, affecting existing Prime Video subscribers in the United States who currently pay for the Ad Free subscription tier, as well as the broader streaming advertising market and the marketing community that buys advertising on Prime Video.

What: The Prime Video Ad Free subscription, priced at $2.99 per month since its introduction in January 2024, will be discontinued and replaced by Prime Video Ultra at $4.99 per month - a 67% price increase. Ultra adds 4K/UHD streaming, Dolby Atmos, five concurrent streams, and 100 offline downloads. The base Prime Video benefit for all Prime members gains Dolby Vision, four concurrent streams, and 50 downloads at no extra cost.

When: Announced March 13, 2026. Changes take effect April 10, 2026.

Where: United States only. No international availability has been announced.

Why: Amazon frames the change as necessary investment to deliver premium features alongside ad-free streaming, and positions Ultra as aligned with industry norms. The price increase also reflects the commercial structure of Prime Video's advertising business, where the default ad-supported tier - watched by 315 million viewers globally - generates advertising revenue that is central to Amazon's $68.6 billion annual advertising operation. Raising the cost to opt out of ads from $2.99 to $4.99 increases revenue from ad-free subscribers while potentially retaining more viewers in the ad-supported tier.

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