Amazon’s Prime Video is rolling out a major overhaul of its user interface, promising a more intuitive and personalised streaming experience for viewers.
The update, which began its global rollout this week, introduces several key improvements, including a streamlined navigation bar, clearer content labelling, and AI-powered recommendations.
UK subscribers can expect to see these changes in the coming weeks (I haven’t seen it on any of my devices yet).
For those unfamiliar, Prime Video is Amazon’s streaming service, offering a mix of original content, licensed shows and films, live sports, and add-on subscription channels.
It’s included with an Amazon Prime membership or available as a (somewhat hidden) standalone subscription.
These changes come in a year when Prime Video has undergone significant changes to its advertising model. Earlier in 2024, the service introduced advert breaks on its content, with viewers now facing multiple ad interruptions during shows and films.
To maintain an ad-free experience, subscribers must pay an additional £2.99 per month in addition to their existing Prime membership fee.
New Prime Video Features
Content-Forward Navigation Bar
Prime Video’s new interface introduces a streamlined navigation bar at the top of the screen.
In recent years, it seems streaming apps have been struggling with whether to put the main navigation bar at the top or on the side, switching from one to the other every couple of years (Netflix’s bar, for example, is moving to the top again).
Well, Prime Video has made its (current) choice, and we’re back to a top-of-screen navigation bar again, two years after the bar was moved to the left.
On that main menu, users will find purpose-built destinations, including “Home,” “Movies,” “TV Shows,” “Sports,” and “Live TV.” This redesign aims to make it easier for viewers to navigate by content type.
Additionally, active add-on subscriptions (via Prime Video Channels) like Paramount+ and MGM+ will be directly accessible from this bar.
A notable addition is the new “Prime” destination. Prime Video subscribers often lament the difficulty of distinguishing between content that’s already included in the subscription and content that needs to be purchased/rented at an extra cost.
The new Prime tab will allow users to browse movies, TV shows, sports and linear broadcasts that are available to them at no additional cost with a Prime membership.
This section will also provide information about other Prime benefits available in the UK (such as exclusive deals).
Hero Rotator with One-Click Access
Just below the navigation bar, the hero rotator will showcase featured content, including titles available with a subscription, as well as those available to rent or buy.
Users can now directly play, purchase or subscribe to watch from this section, streamlining the process of accessing desired content.
Improved Add-on Subscription Management
The new interface brings improvements to how users can explore and manage add-on subscriptions. By selecting “Subscriptions” from the navigation bar, viewers can browse available add-on options.
These are what’s known as Prime Video Channels – third-party streaming services that are often available as standalone services or as part of Amazon’s Prime Video service (in which case you get billed by Amazon instead of the streaming service directly).
These subscriptions include services such as Hayu, Paramount+, Crunchyroll, Viaplay and many others.
The new section will display personalised recommendations for new subscriptions based on the user’s preferences, previous rentals, and viewing history.
It will also showcase deals and discounted bundles of subscriptions from third-party services, all in one convenient location.
AI-Powered Personalised Recommendations
Leveraging Generative AI technology, Prime Video is enhancing its recommendation system. The new interface will feature “Made for You” collections within the “Movies” and “TV Shows” destinations.
These collections aim to group titles tailored to individual interests, rather than showing content from specific add-on subscriptions or different purchase options.
To power this experience, Prime Video utilises Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed AWS service for building and scaling generative AI applications with foundational models.
Enhanced Content Clarity
Addressing a common user complaint, the new interface makes it easier to distinguish between content included with a Prime membership and titles that require additional payment (not just under the new Prime tab).
Prime and add-on subscription logos will appear on the hero and title cards of movies and TV shows, clearly indicating which subscription the content is associated with.
For titles requiring extra payment, a yellow shopping bag icon will be displayed.
Simplified Content Descriptions
In an effort to help users make quicker decisions, Prime Video is employing Large Language Models (LLMs) to simplify synopses for TV shows and movies.
This change allows viewers to quickly glance at a title description without needing to scroll through lengthy summaries.
Immersive Browsing Experience
The update introduces new animations, smooth page transitions, and zoom effects to create a more frictionless and enjoyable streaming experience.
For users on living room devices, video content will play on the hero rotator during browsing, creating a more immersive environment.
In the “Live TV” destination, recommended 24/7 stations will automatically start playing and continue as users transition into full-screen playback or exit to browse other stations (that being said, the Live TV section on Prime Video in the UK is still somewhat barren).
Optimised Performance Across Devices
Amazon states that Prime Video has optimised the experience across all streaming devices, including older models. This ensures that all users, regardless of their device’s age or specifications, can enjoy the new interface improvements.
As mentioned, these updates should roll out to devices across the UK in the coming weeks.
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I would rather pay a cheaper price for Prime Delivery and not have Amazon Prime Video at all. I hardly ever watch it now as I think there is plenty to watch on the normal channels.