Advertisements might remain a fixture on streaming platforms such as Amazon unless you’re willing to pay up.

Once a major draw of streaming services, ad-free entertainment is becoming a rarity. With platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video introducing commercials, experts suggest that the era of advertisement-free video content is fading. Unless you’re willing to pay higher prices and accept additional monthly charges, formerly exclusive to traditional television, to avoid advertisements, the landscape is changing.

In Canada, Prime Video recently joined the trend by introducing commercials on Monday, unless customers opt to pay an additional $2.99 per month. While the base price remains unchanged for customers who accept the ads, the previous ad-free version of the service now comes at a higher cost.

Amazon has assured that the advertisements will be ‘limited,’ but declined to specify to CBC News the quantity or duration of the ads. This change follows the introduction of ads on Prime Video for U.S. consumers in late January, aligning with similar shifts made by Netflix and Disney+ across North America, as well as Bell Media’s Crave in Canada.

Advertising revenue is on the rise across various platforms. YouTube saw its advertising revenue surge by over $1 billion US in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year. Additionally, Netflix disclosed a significant influx of new customers, with 40 percent choosing plans inclusive of advertisements. The company also reported a 12 percent increase in revenue during the last quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in the preceding year.