You have mail, Amazon Prime members said on Tuesday morning. And this post fits into the time, which is characterized by price increases everywhere. “From September 15, 2022, the Prime membership fee will increase from EUR 7.99 to EUR 8.99 with monthly payment and from EUR 69.00 to EUR 89.90 with annual payment,” announced the delivery and streaming service amazon For students, the subscription price increases from EUR 3.99 to EUR 4.49 per month or EUR 44.90 (previously EUR 34) per year. Amazon last raised Prime prices in 2017.
The reason given for the price increase is “general and significant changes in costs due to inflation”. “These lead to an increase in the costs of the Prime service in your country and are based on external circumstances that are beyond our control,” says Amazon Prime. The price increase for Prime is 12.5 percent with monthly payment. The inflation rate in Germany fell slightly to 7.6 percent in June.
The increased Prime fee will be due with the next payment, which will take effect “on or after September 15, 2022,” according to the Amazon service, which includes the delivery of products via Amazon in addition to the Prime Video streaming service. In the US, Amazon had already raised prices in February. The annual fee there is now 139 dollars (around 136 euros) instead of 119 dollars.
The price increase comes less than two weeks after the launch of Amazon’s series adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. The streaming service is already advertising heavily for the first season called “The Rings of Power”. After all, the season is said to have cost 380 million euros. That would make it the most expensive series of all time. A second season has already been commissioned.
There have already been some sharp price increases in the streaming market. They were particularly drastic at the division provider Dazn. At the beginning of July, the sports channel doubled the prices for live football from the Bundesliga and Champions League for existing customers from EUR 14.99 to EUR 29.99. This is particularly painful for football fans because a subscription to Sky is also required in addition to the Dazn subscription in order to see all matches in the Bundesliga. Amazon Prime is also required for the Champions League.
The situation eased a little with a combination package from Sky, which also includes Dazn access. With a term of 12 months, the sports suit costs EUR 38.99 per month. However, it is limited in time until September 30, 2022 and initially applies to new customers.
The topic of higher prices for pay-TV stations and streaming services was also the subject of discussion a few days ago at a press conference by the private broadcaster association Vaunet with representatives of German market participants such as Sky, ProSiebenSat1 and RTL. Nobody wanted to confirm or deny short-term price increases. Netflix’s plans for an ad-financed offshoot were seen as confirmation of its own strategies. In other words: in order to be able to do without price increases, either the proportion of advertising can also be increased for video-on-demand offers or – if advertising has not been included in paid offers up to now – introduced.
