If you’ve recently upgraded to Amazon’s ad-free Prime Video tier, or currently considering upgrading, it is important to be aware that the ad-free upgrade doesn’t work across accounts linked through Amazon Household.
Earlier this week, Amazon introduced ads to Prime Video, marking a major change from the years of Prime members and standalone Prime Video subscribers having access to an ad-free streaming experience. Along with the introduction of ads, Amazon also launched the ability to upgrade to ad-free for an additional $2.99 a month.
While accounts linked through Amazon Household are able to share many of the benefits associated with Prime membership, including Prime Video, the upgrade to ad-free isn’t one of the benefits that can be shared with other Amazon Household members.
We suspect the reason for this is that the upgrade is processed as an additional subscription on top of the Prime membership or standalone Prime Video subscription. In this sense, it is similar to other paid add-ons, like Prime Video Channels, and additional Prime Video subscriptions cannot be shared across Amazon Household accounts either.
To be clear, the ability to stream Prime Video through Amazon Household is different to Prime Video profiles. The latter of which are compatible with the ad-free Prime Video upgrade. For example, if an Amazon Household linked account is using their personal Amazon account on a TV or streaming player, they won’t be able to access the ad-free experience paid for with the primary Amazon Household account.
In contrast, those using an additional profile within the Prime Video app, that’s been authenticated with an account that has upgraded to ad-free Prime Video, will be able to watch Prime Video content without sitting through the ads. This is irrespective of whether the additional profile user has their own linked Amazon Household account.
While this can seem confusing, it is the way Amazon has opted to implement its ad-supported and ad-free tiers. The most important takeaway here is homes will need to make sure they upgrade to ad-free using the account that’s primarily used for streaming Prime Video in the home. If they haven’t already, they will then need to create a Prime Video profile for each person using the app.
Leave a Reply