Amazon Prime customers will have to pay an additional £2.99 a month to avoid having to watch adverts on the Prime Video streaming service.

Amazon has written to Prime customers to say that the change will come into effect from Monday, 5 February. If customers choose not to upgrade, they will instead have to watch adverts.

Currently Prime Video costs £5.99 a month. It will now cost £8.98 to watch ad-free – the equivalent of a 50% increase. Viewers can sign up to get one month of the upgrade for free.

Meanwhile, full Amazon Prime customers currently pay £8.99 a month, or £95 for the year upfront. To get rid of adverts, these customers will now need to pay £11.98 a month, or £130.88 for an annual membership.

Amazon haven’t said when the adverts will be shown – whether they will be during the content you’re watching, or just before it – but they have said there will be  “meaningfully fewer ads than ad-supported TV channels and other streaming TV providers”.