Prime Video introduces advertising - now threatened with lawsuits

This is new: Amazon Prime Video is revamping the previous standard subscription in many countries. Although the price remains the same, customers will have to put up with regular ad breaks. However, anyone who wants to continue to enjoy the Prime Video service without adverts will now have to pay a monthly surcharge of 2.99 euros.

This means that the online shop giant is taking a completely different approach to streaming providers such as Netflix or Disney+: There you pay more than before if you want to enjoy ad-free films and series. But at least you pay less than before to watch adverts.

Amazon's new guidelines are therefore not only causing annoyance among consumers. The Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv), based in Berlin, even sees it as a violation of consumer law. The association now wants to take legal action against this. This is reported by the Handelsblatt.

Misleading communication is not legal

At the beginning of the year, Amazon informed affected customers in the relevant countries, including Germany, about the change to the standard subscription by email. Amazon wrote that users only need to take action if they want to book the ad-free option with the monthly surcharge. If they do not respond, they will be shown adverts when watching films and series from 5 February 2024.

In fact, Amazon wrote last year in a blog post:

"To continue to invest in compelling content and grow that investment over time, Prime series and movies will include limited advertising starting in early 2024. [...] For Prime members, no action is required. We will not make any changes to the current price of Prime membership in 2024."

The vzbv considers the unsolicited inclusion of advertising to be a material change to the contract. The express consent of customers should have been obtained for this. As there is no mention of this in any information letter, the association believes that Amazon is communicating in a misleading way: Amazon should not simply present its Prime Video customers with a fait accompli, said vzbv head Ramona Pop in Handelsblatt. This would be a disregard for consumer law.

As the vzbv itself has now communicated, a warning letter has already been sent to Amazon Digital Germany GmbH. Next, the association plans to take legal action against the misleading approach. The association aims to protect consumer rights and ensure that Amazon treats its customers fairly.

Complaints are not only being filed in Germany

For the time being, Amazon has only introduced advertising in Prime Video content in the USA, the UK, Germany and Canada. France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia will follow in the course of the year. It is not yet known if and when Switzerland will be confronted with the new guidelines. The only thing that is clear is that Amazon will not only face legal action in Germany.

As the Hollywood Reporter reports, Amazon is also facing a class action lawsuit in the USA, which was filed in a Californian federal court last Friday. There, too, the American giant is accused of misleading consumers and violating state consumer protection laws.

Specifically, the lawsuit states that Amazon is unlawfully profiting from having advertised Prime Video as "ad-free" for years, which is now harming "honest competition". This primarily affects customers who took out an annual subscription last December in the belief that they would receive an ad-free subscription. "They now have to pay extra to get something they have already paid for," the complaint states.