Last weekend Amazon Prime Video managed to do something that I thought was impossible; the streaming service made watching “The Notebook” even more tedious.
During a recent movie night, I was forced to rewatch the 2004 romantic drama starring a young Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. If having to sit through the whole vapid two hours of this ponderous and melodramatic movie wasn’t painful enough, thanks to a new ads rollout that puts advertisements on all Prime content (unless you pay an extra $2.99 a month), I was also forced to also endure periodic sales pitches for products that are conveniently all sold on Amazon...
Of course, nobody likes ads (unless they’re during the Super Bowl), but I've watched my fair share of ad-supported content and can tolerate a few commercial breaks. My objection to Amazon’s new strategy of putting ads on all Prime Video content isn’t solely because ads suck, it’s also because the service handles advertisements in just about the worse way possible.
Prime Video ads are super intrusive
As noted, I’m not unfamiliar with ad-supported content, and I’ve watch enough movies on traditional TV networks in my youth to be able to handle watching a flick punctuated by ad breaks. It never makes for the ideal experience, but I’ll at least give most networks credit for taking the time to insert ads in relatively harmless places.
Prime Video is totally fine with inserting ads in the most chaotic way possible. I’m talking ads in the middle of dialogue, or at the height of a dramatic moment.
Typically, when watching a movie on a TV network, somebody has been assigned to find places where ads can inserted that have the smallest possible impact on the flow of the movie. That usually means that ads happen in between scenes, and are less frequent towards the end of a flick where the pacing usually ramps up and the pivotal moments are happening.
I guess Amazon never got that memo because, in my experience, Prime Video is totally fine with inserting ads in the most chaotic way possible. I’m talking ads in the middle of dialogue, or at the height of a dramatic moment. The first time an ad popped up, I initially thought somebody had accidentally sat on the remote such was the abrupt switch from the 40s American South of "The Notebook" to a flashy sales pitch for the latest Samsung Galaxy phone.
“The Notebook” already has pacing problems — it has no business being two hours long — but with advertisements breaking up the flow, it was an even more monotonous experience. Mercifully there were only a few ads in the whole movie, but it was enough to have me wondering if it wasn’t time to pack in my Prime Video subscription and stick to Netflix instead.
Why am I paying for Prime Video?
When picking a membership tier for a streaming service I will always opt for the ad-free option. I’m not against paying a little bit extra to avoid advertisements, but the way that Amazon has handled this ad rollout just doesn’t sit very well with me.
Rather than take the same strategy as the majority of its streaming rivals, including Netflix and Disney Plus, and launching a cheaper ad-supported tier, Prime Video is instead punishing its pre-existing subscribers with a stealth price hike dressed up as an optional charge. That’s a pretty poor way to make a customer feel valued.
I’m okay sitting through ads in a movie (so long as they’re strategically placed), but only if I’m able to stream the content for free. In that situation, I’m paying for the movie by watching the ads. It’s a fair deal. With Prime Video’s new ad rollout, I’m being asked to cough up a premium subscription fee and still being forced to watch ads. That’s not what I signed up for, and the cancel button is looking pretty tempting.
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