Seattle, Washington - As streaming platforms race to remain competitive, Amazon has announced that it will be introducing limited advertisements on its subscription-based Prime Video streaming service beginning in early 2024.

Unless they switch to a more expensive ad-free plan, users in the US, UK, Germany, and Canada will be the first to have to sit through commercial breaks while watching TV shows and films on Prime Video, Amazon announced on Friday.

Later in the year, ads will also be rolled out on Prime Video in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia, according to the company.

Prices for a Prime Video membership will remain the same but will now include ads, with the ad-free option costing an additional $2.99 in the US.

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Amazon says it is aiming to show "meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers" but did not specify what exactly that will mean in terms of ad time.

Prime Video rival Netflix introduced a similar plan with ads last year, while HBO's Max and Disney+ also offer subscribers ad-supported tiers.