Amazon is taking its streaming game to the next level by trying to attract a couple different groups of subscribers with new packages. On Sunday, the company announced two new Prime plans, in what looks like direct competition with Netflix. There’s the video-only version, which costs $8.99 a month to just stream content. A second new plan is $10.99 a month and offers all the benefits of Prime, like video streaming, free two-day shipping, and music streaming.
If you do the math, though, neither plan is cheaper than the regular Prime membership. The New York Times wrote, “customers who subscribe month-to-month for the full Prime service will pay $32.88 more a year than if they subscribe on an annual basis, while subscribers to the video service will pay $8.88 more a year while getting substantially fewer benefits, like free two-day shipping, than annual Prime members.”
Huh, Amazon has a new membership plan for Prime Videos. pic.twitter.com/mQcQf3gJAO
Advertisement— Kelsey Fireheart (@KelseyFireheart) April 18, 2016
It does sound better though. And a lot like Netflix, which is presumably what that “video only” option is competing with. It comes at a time when Netflix customers might be checking their bills. Coming next month, millions of grandfathered-in members will start paying two bucks more a month for unlimited streaming. Whether anyone cares is worth watching. Amazon’s video only plan might be a good add on if you like watching content through the service or feel like you really need to catch up on Transparent (and you should be) but don’t use Amazon for much else.
