The price of Amazon Prime is going up. Amazon’s premium package, which includes free shipping as well as access to the retailer’s library of films and TV shows, will cost $119 per year beginning in May.
Prime previously cost $99 per year, but Amazon is asking users to pay more due to the value it believes it is offering them. “It’s really nothing more than looking at the state of the program…and the benefit it provides,” said Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky during the company’s earnings call for the first quarter of 2018. “There’s all kinds of new features we’ve added to the program. It’s much different than it was in 2014.”
A standalone version of Prime Video, which grants access to the entertainment portion of Prime without the other perks, is also available, though its price recently went up as well. In January, it rose from $10.99 per month to $12.99 per month.
Amazon’s decision to raise the price of Prime comes after a strong first quarter, during which Jeff Bezos’ company exceeded Wall Street expectations. A significant driver of Amazon’s growth has been Prime, which now has more than 100 million users.
Price hikes have become relatively common in the streaming video world. Last October, Netflix upped the cost of its most popular plan, which is now available for $10.99 per month.
For new Prime members, the price hike will go into effect on May 11. Existing customers will begin to be affected by the new prices on June 16, with the exact timing of the change dependent on each specific user’s renewal period.
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