On today’s wildly successful earnings call, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky dropped a bit of a bombshell for Amazon Prime subscribers. The retailer’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink annual subscription plan is about to get pricier. On May 11, Prime annual memberships will jump $20, from $99 a year to $119.
The news follows a similar announcement back in January, which found the monthly version of the program increasing from $10.99 to $12.99 — a $24 increase. Of course, annual subscribers will still come out ahead — the monthly model works out to $156 a year. This is the first increase to annual pricing in nearly four years.
Why the bump? Amazon’s wild content buying spree likely has something to do with it. Just this afternoon, it announced that it was extending its Thursday Night Football deal another two years.
“Since we increased the annual price of Prime four years ago both the value of Prime and the cost to offer it have increased significantly,” Amazon said in a statement provided to TechCrunch. And certainly the program has grown a lot, from a free shipping program to including everything from Alexa special features to The Washington Post.
The new prices apply starting May 11 for new subscribers. Existing subscribers will see an increase for renewals starting June 16.