Amazon May Introduce Ads in Conversations With Alexa+

Amazon is considering introducing ads in conversations with Alexa+, the new version of its digital assistant that’s currently available in early access in the US. Andy Jassy, the CEO of the company said during the company’s Q2 2025 earnings call yesterday (via TechCrunch) that ads could be an opportunity to make Alexa+ more useful, all while generating more revenue for the company.

“People are excited about the devices that they can buy from us that have Alexa+ enabled in it. People do a lot of shopping [with Alexa+]; it’s a delightful shopping experience that will keep getting better,” Jassy said. “I think over time, there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue.”

Once it goes out of beta, Alexa+ will be free with an Amazon Prime subscription or available for $20/month. During the call with investors, Jassy also hinted at new Alexa+ tiers. It’s easy to imagine Amazon requiring users to pay extra for an ad-free experience, just as the company did with its Prime Video service.

As of today, users of Amazon’s Echo Show devices may see visual ads during conversations with the assistant, but the conversational ads Jassy described yesterday seem much more intrusive. The idea of Amazon using personal conversations with Alexa+ to make the assistant interrupt chats with targeted ads doesn’t seem like the best way to inspire confidence in the product.

Amazon said yesterday that it has already expanded Alexa+ to “millions” of testers in the US. The new version of the assistant is currently only available on Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices, but it will eventually come to other Echo speakers, Fire TV, Fire tablets, the Alexa app, and the web. The original Alexa will also remain available for users who prefer it.