Amazon drops two beloved Prime Video features and is charging extra for them

Amazon really wants customers to pay extra to stream its library of movies and TV shows, and if it means cutting out features that were once included in its Prime Video subscription for no extra charge, the online retail giant just showed that it has no problem doing that.

Amazon has recently confirmed that it has revoked Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision from Prime Video, which provides HDR and surround sound to streaming content, and if you want those features back, you will have to pay an extra fee.

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The $2.99 ad-free option that Amazon began offering users on Jan. 29 to remove advertisements from Prime Video content will now also pay for customers to stream movies and TV shows in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, something that was already included in customers’ $8.99 Prime Video subscription.

It is not known when Amazon pulled these features from Prime Video, but the change was not mentioned in Amazon’s announcement last year that it will begin charging customers extra to stream content without ads.

Amazon did not immediately respond to TheStreet's request for comment. 

Amazon is heavily investing in increasing advertising across its platforms as it made $14.6 billion from advertising during the fourth quarter of 2023, which is a 26% increase from the same time period in 2022 where it made $11.5 billion. So ads across its streaming platform aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and customers might see even more of them introduced to other Amazon services in the near future.

“I mean, what I would say for ads in videos is that advertisers are excited to access our Prime customer base,” said Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer at Amazon, during a recent earnings call. “We are looking for ways to increase our advertising in our streaming properties, including Fire TV, but also – and Prime Video, but also things like Free V and Twitch. And it's an important part of the total business model, and we expect it will allow us to have a healthy business to continue to invest in content and to continue to grow that.”

Subscription services are also lucrative for the online retail giant, which also hints at the reason why it might be sneaking in extra fees for customers to customize their Prime Video experience. During the fourth quarter of 2023, Amazon made $10.4 billion from subscription services alone. 

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