AMC+ launches new $4.99 tier if you can deal with some ads

Published Sep 29th, 2023 1:44PM EDT

Behold, another streaming service that is turning itself into a cable channel.

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Streaming services have been adding ad-supported tiers like hotcakes this year. From Netflix to Disney to Max, it’s been hard to find a service that doesn’t offer its customers the choice to choose between an ad-supported tier for less money or an ad-free tier for more money. Apple TV+ seems like one of the few remaining services to only offer the ad-free tier at this point.

AMC+ was also one of those remaining services…until today. To be fair, we already knew that the company planned to add an ad-supported tier to its streaming service all of the way back in April. However, today, the company officially launched the tier. In a press release, AMC Networks announced that customers can now choose a new tier for its service that features “a light ad load” for $4.99 per month or $83.88 per year. This is in comparison to the ad-free tier that currently costs $8.99 per month — the company confirmed that it is not changing the price of the ad-free tier for now.

Kim Kelleher, chief commercial officer of AMC Networks, said in a statement that AMC+ was the last piece of the company’s distribution network that didn’t already have an ad-supported option.

“This ad-supported version of AMC+ gives consumers more flexibility while bringing ads to the only piece of our distribution ecosystem that wasn’t already ad-supported. Now, with our linear networks, strong and growing presence on CTV and FAST platforms and ad-supported AMC+, our advertising partners can fully leverage the reach and appeal of our high-quality shows and connect with viewers wherever and however they choose to watch. We are also able to offer marketers new and innovative ways to reach consumers, like interactive and shoppable ads, more flexibility in product integrations, whole genre takeovers and other tech-enabled enhancements that weren’t possible before.”

Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill in “Better Call Saul” season six. Image source: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

So, what will customers get with the ad-supported version of AMC+? Well, everything that you get with the ad-free tier, except with some ads. The company says that there will be less than five minutes of ads per hour of content. In addition to all of the productions from AMC, the streaming service also includes movies and television shows from Shudder, IFC Films Unlimited, and Sundance Now.

AMC Networks says that it is starting to roll out this new ad-free tier starting today through its own apps. The company says that it will be expanding the new tier to third-party platforms and channel providers “in the coming weeks.”