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Amazon 's Prime Video’s Strategic Shift: A Subtle Reminder of Platform Power Dynamics Amazon has quietly rolled out a significant change to its Prime Video experience in India integrating advertisements into content for all users, including those already subscribed to Prime. To continue enjoying an ad-free experience, subscribers are now required to pay an additional fee. At first glance, this may seem like a minor policy update. But in reality, it reflects something much deeper: the evolving dynamics of digital platforms and the long-term implications for user experience. Over the years, Amazon built a deeply integrated ecosystem commerce, cloud, payments, and entertainment offering immense value at competitive pricing. Prime, in particular, became synonymous with convenience and premium access, all bundled into a single, affordable plan. But today’s change signals a strategic pivot one where platforms begin to leverage their dominance not just to serve users, but to optimize monetization. This is not about ads alone. It’s about how platforms evolve once they’ve achieved widespread adoption: The value proposition changes. The cost of “premium” begins to shift. And most importantly, user expectations are subtly recalibrated. As professionals and founders in the digital space, this brings important questions to the forefront: How do we ensure value is consistently delivered to users, even as our business models evolve? What does sustainable trust look like in a platform-driven economy? Are we building ecosystems that empower users or ones that quietly limit their options over time? Amazon’s move is a strategic decision and perhaps an inevitable one. But it also reminds us that in a world driven by platforms, long-term trust is the most valuable currency. Curious to hear how others perceive this shift. Is this the future of all bundled services? Or is there a smarter way forward? #DigitalStrategy #PlatformEconomy #CustomerExperience #PrimeVideo #AmazonIndia #ProductStrategy #UserTrust #TechLeadership #BrandLoyalty