Amazon Prime subscribers have serious problems with the company’s introduction of advertising to Prime Video, and filed a class action lawsuit on Friday challenging the move.
The plaintiff, a California resident, brought allegations of misleading advertising and violations of consumer protection laws against Amazon related to “unreasonable” changes to Prime Video’s ads. Submission to the court is Published and previously reported By The Hollywood Reporter.
The lawsuit comes about a week and a half after the company automatically showed limited ads to U.S. subscribers and required those who wanted to continue streaming ad-free to pay an additional monthly fee. The ad-free price is $2.99.
The plaintiffs asked the court to certify the lawsuit as a class action for people who paid their annual Amazon Prime membership fees before December 28 of last year. He also asked the court to grant other relief, including an injunction “prohibiting defendants from deceptive conduct,” various damages, and a jury trial, according to the filing.
The complaint alleges that consumers who “subscribed to Amazon Prime prior to the change” were told that the e-commerce giant’s advertisements “reasonably included ad-free streaming of movies and TV shows for the duration of their Amazon Prime subscription.” I was really looking forward to it,” he said. It has been done for many years for the service. Amazon’s marketing of the service misled and harmed annual subscription consumers “by depriving them of the reasonable expectations to which they were entitled” after automatic advertising began, the filing alleged.
The lawsuit also alleges, among other things, that Amazon “breached its agreements with plaintiffs and class members by failing to provide ad-free streaming of television shows and movies as promised” when signing up for annual memberships.
Amazon declined FOX Business’ request for comment on the lawsuit.
When Amazon first revealed in late September that it would introduce limited advertising to Prime Video content, the company said the reason for the change was to “continue to invest in engaging content and continue to grow that investment over time.” “I want to do that,” he said. We have published content such as “The Boys,” “Reacher,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
The company also said at the time that “a few weeks before ads are introduced on Prime Video, we will email Prime members with information on how to sign up for an ad-free option if they wish.” Prime pricing for ad-supported options was flat.
In recent years, ad-supported plans have become increasingly common for streaming platforms as they seek to increase revenue.
