Amazon Rolls out Long-Awaited Update to Prime Video

By Daniel S. Levine

Amazon might have great shows on Prime Video like The Boys and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but the app's interface has been less than great for a few years now. Thankfully, that's about to change. The internet giant announced plans to roll out a new interface earlier this month. It's the biggest change for Prime Video in a decade.

The new interface will fix one of the biggest gripes customers have had for years. Subscribers will finally be able to tell easily between content available for Prime Video members and content only available for rent or purchase, notes Variety. In other words, subscribers will more clearly see that Jurassic World Dominion is only available to rent or purchase, and not available "free" for Amazon Prime users.

Subscribers will see a blue check-mark icon on titles that are available for Prime Video users, while other titles will have a gold-colored shopping-bag icon to signify they are available to rent or purchase. The top of the Home screen will include a My Subscriptions row, which shows all videos included with a Prime membership. "We certainly wanted customers to understand the breadth of content available to them, with a clear ingress and being able to know which titles cost extra," Helena Cerna, global director of product management for Prime Video, said on July 18.

Amazon started working on the new interface about 18 months ago. It will be available to Prime Video users on Fire TV, Roku devices, Apple TV 4K boxes and the Android app first, with other Prime Video customers throughout the summer. Apple iOS users will have to wait a little longer though, as they won't get the new interface until after everyone else.

Cerna described the new experience as "more cinematic." It is much less cluttered than the previous version, with the main navigation menu on the left-hand side of the screen. There will be six primary pages: Home, Store, Find, Live TV, Free with Ads, and My Stuff. There will also be sub-navigation options to highlight Amazon's sports programming and links to rent or buy new shows and movies.

The Live TV section will be home to live sports, just before Prime Video becomes the only place where NFL fans can watch Thursday Night Football. The Sports sub-menu will also highlight sports content available on Paramount+, MLB.TV and other platforms customers might be subscribed to through Prime Video. The section will also let customers follow content by their favorite teams and leagues.

The "Find" search feature was also overhauled. Subscribers can search for titles, genres, and collections. There is also an option to filter results by genre or format. The visual cues remind customers if a title is available with a Prime Video subscription or requires an individual payment. 

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