LogFAQs > #976245191

Compsognathus posted...

It's interesting that Amazon has finally hit some sort of point where they are no longer content to simply incinerate money for no additional gain.

Prime has always been an oddball in the streaming industry as it is the only one where streaming is an incidental service. Like I have to imagine the people who subscribe to Prime only for their streaming is incredibly small. It was an additional value add for Prime customers rather than a service itself and all the money spent on it was closer to advertising for Prime as a whole rather than the operating costs of a legitimate business segment. Basically Prime video kept Prime in the headlines and at award shows, but it didn't meaningfully generate distinct revenue.

This is Amazon trying to get a more tangible revenue from Video so it can offset some of the cost. They are still going to lose a ton of money on it, but it's clear they are no longer content to do so without recouping some of the cost.

The worst part is that Amazon keeps using things like Prime Video and Music as the excuse for why they have to keep raising the price of the Prime sub. In reality whose were forcefully added "benefits" that no one even asked for in the first place. Amazon Prime Delivery, which is what most people actually care about is probably only worth $5 a month, but they aren't going to decouple all those other extra things and give them their own separate sub services because they know damn well that almost everyone will sub only for Delivery.

Now they turn around and literally make Prime Video outright WORSE while charging the same price unless you pay an extra $3 a month to get rid of ads... which is basically just gives you back the regular service you used to have the whole time.

It's mind-bogglingly dumb.