Amazon Prime to start offering monthly subscription packages

[Kamikaze Revy]

Amazon Prime to start offering monthly subscription packages
Starts at $8.99 a month

Amazon is set to debut a new monthly streaming package for Prime members that would directly challenge Netflix and Hulu's current subscription base, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

New subscribers can choose to pay either $10.99 a month for Amazon Prime or $8.99 for Prime Video. At $10.99 a month, the new subscription method is almost twice as expensive as the current model ($99 a year), but the new package does give subscribers more flexibility with their plans and the option to cancel monthly.

Right now, $10.99 a month is the third highest rate of all the streaming giants. HBO Now goes for $14.99, with Hulu just behind it at $11.99 a month. However, news of Amazon's monthly subscription package comes just a week after Netflix announced that it would be raising prices for its own subscribers from $7.99 to $9.99 a month.

Thanks to digital series that are the equal of their cable television rivals, streaming video services are no longer an afterthought. YouTube recently launched its own original content section, YouTube Red, that charges a premium price for access to videos.

The new monthly package for Prime will also include the other services that Prime members enjoy right now with their annual plans, including Music, Video and free shipping. Amazon hasn't disclosed just how many members it has using Prime, but giving subscribers the option to go monthly is definitely a way to improve those numbers. Netflix, the biggest of all the streaming services, boasts over 70 million users worldwide, with 44 million users in the United States.

Amazon's new monthly subscription offer will begin next month.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Amazon Prime is going monthly and taking even more direct aim at Netflix.

On Sunday night the online retailer turned on a monthly subscription option for its bundle of Prime services, like free shipping, a music library, and a growing collection of original TV shows and movies.

Until now, Prime has only been available as a $99 annual subscription.

What’s more, Amazon is now offering a separate monthly subscription just for its TV and movie collection — the part it calls Prime Video.

Amazon has never made Prime Video available as its own product before. It’s always been a part of the bundle. So it seems like Amazon is positioning Prime Video as a head-on competitor to Netflix and Hulu.

The standalone Prime Video service will cost $8.99 a month.

The new offering comes at the same time Netflix implements price hikes for many of its members. (Longtime subscribers to Netflix’s standard plan who were paying $7.99 a month will start paying $9.99 a month in May.)

Netflix will report first quarter earnings on Monday afternoon.

As for Amazon, the company says it has decided that Prime does not have to be one-size-fits-all.

The $99 annual bundle will remain in place, and will remain the best value overall.

The month-to-month subscription for just Prime Video would cost $107.88 over the course of a year. But Amazon expects the offer to appeal to some new subscribers because it avoids an annual commitment.

Amazon will also sell the full Prime bundle, including free shipping, for $10.99 a month, coming out to $131.88 over the course of a year.

The company started to test this monthly option through a partnership with Sprint last month. Sprint customers are able to add the Prime bundle to their wireless bill each month.

The rationale for that, similarly, was that it created a new on-ramp onto Prime and provided an alternative to an annual commitment.

Amazon Prime goes monthly in new challenge to Netflix

 

[mannyrs13]

Honestly if it weren't for the free shipping, I wouldn't even use prime. I rarely if ever watch their prime videos. Mostly use hulu and Netflix to a lesser extent. I wonder if this affects the student discount tho. I don't think this is a good idea for them. Netflix has more content and subscribers. But yet again, people gotta get this in order to have free shipping and any other features that Amazon offers. And I see Netflix going up two dollars. Just great. Looks like everyone gonna be raising prices on streaming services since they know the subscribers have no choice but to pay it.

 

[L68]

gonna only get prime from right before thanksgiving for a month now when i do all my christmas shopping

 

[Yoda]

HUH? I been paying monthly, since like jan 2016, i thought this was already a thing.


im confused...

 

[Tunez]

Time to eat for the holidays

 

[Milk N Cookies]

Time to eat for the holidays

gonna only get prime from right before thanksgiving for a month now when i do all my christmas shopping

Spoiler: Don't forget

Cancel that shyt like two days after u sign up. You can keep the trial month but after he month is over, it's done. And you won't have to worry about the charge of subscription fee.

 

[Tunez]

Spoiler: Don't forget

Cancel that shyt like two days after u sign up. You can keep the trial month but after he month is over, it's done. And you won't have to worry about the charge of subscription fee.

I already used my trial month

 

[Milk N Cookies]

I already used my trial month

I've done it like 3 times before just paying the yearly fee.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

I just signed up as a student for the free 6 month trial.
Bought some stuff for the iMac. Ordered it at 2pm to be delivered tomorrow by 5pm. Shipping was only $5. 2 day shipping would have been free. Not bad at all. I'll see how much I actually use it during the 6 months and figure out if the cost of shipping is more than the cost of the $50 student membership. My guess is, I'll be doing the $50 membership at least once.

 

[BaldingSoHard]

I just signed up as a student for the free 6 month trial.
Bought some stuff for the iMac. Ordered it at 2pm to be delivered tomorrow by 5pm. Shipping was only $5. 2 day shipping would have been free. Not bad at all. I'll see how much I actually use it during the 6 months and figure out if the cost of shipping is more than the cost of the $50 student membership. My guess is, I'll be doing the $50 membership at least once.

Breh 2 day free shipping on damn near everything has changed my life. I didn't think I'd use it much either but Amazon is my go-to for just about everything now.

 

[Splash]

I love prime, I've had rolling annual for as long as I can remember
I don't think the video service is all that tbh but its nice to have, the free shipping was a must for me.
I order shyt constantly and usually in small bits.

 

[Blackout]

Ive had the yearly 99$ fee for about 2 years so far and counting.

Good thing they arent getting rid of the 99$ a year option.

 

[|r|e|a|d|]

This thread reminded me that my sub must have just ended as the kids were complaining that they cant catch their shows, just went in to re-up they only charged me $49

 

[AB Ziggy]

Amazon and Chill brehs