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Amazon Prime putting in commercials

57 points by dpeterson ↗ HN
Why is Amazon injecting commercials in their Prime content? I was just subjected to a Geico commercial. I pay for no commercials. That is the only reason I have it. Why is there not a firestorm about this online? I contacted customer support and they told me they are called "snippets" based on my viewing habits; "they aren't commercials". I will be cancelling if this does not change.

13 comments

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sugarygrind
Wow.. I dint expect ads on Prime content! Amazon will charge for Video and Music subscription separately?. Ad supported for just prime?
0942v8653
Wow. How often do they show up? Are they skippable? This is pretty ridiculous, after making such a big deal of it being ad-free.
0942v8653
Ok. It looks like it is just a single ad before the content of each of the pilots in the current promotion. Definitely a bit silly but not outrageous.
clintonb
I recall seeing them on some pilots. The ad appeared once before the show for 15-30s. I don't recall any in-show commercials.
wodenokoto
Write up a blog post with some screenshots of the ad and the absolutely ridiculous customer response, and I am sure you can reach the front page of reddit.
SpikeDad
What service were you using to watch Prime? I have to say that I have not seen any commercials using my Vizio Smart TV interface which I was watching 3 of the new pilots.

I would agree that any commercials on Prime and I would strongly consider cancelling. I cancelled Hulu for the same reason.

paulcole
"I cancelled Hulu for the same reason."

Isn't Hulu pretty up-front about their commercials? What were you expecting vs. what you received?

dlhavema
Hulu was nice at first, until i realized that they couldn't handle slicing up a show to inject commercials to save their lives.

example:

  1. original scene change/comercial at 00:58
  2. show runs up until 01:00
  3. hulu then starts to buffer the commercial
  4. hulu then resumes show, but backs up to 00:55 showing the fade to black and some of the show again...
maybe they've gotten better, but this was an awful experience.
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paulcole
"I pay for no commercials."

Where does Amazon say this? I might be dense but I've never seen them promote their content as "commercial free."