In 2019, Amazon joined the ad-supported video streaming market by partnering with IMDb TV. Later this April, the product with ads will be given a new name.
Amazon's New Name for its TV Product
On Apr. 27, IMDb TV will become Amazon Freevee, a name that the company said reflects the free nature of the service that it offers, according to CNBC.
The ad-supported video-on-demand or AVOD space has increased in popularity in the past few years, picking up momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as consumers streamed more TV shows and movies.
The competitors include Crackle, Paramount Global's Pluto TV, the Roku Channel from Roku, and Tubi.
Amazon is obviously trying to play both sides of the streaming market. The Prime Video service of Amazon is available through a monthly subscription of $9 or as part of the full Amazon Prime membership for $15 a month.
Amazon competes on that ends with the likes of Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and NBCUniversal's Peacock, though some of those also have free ad-supported services, according to Fortune.
Paid subscription services will dominate the streaming market, but ad-supported offerings are slowly gaining ground. According to Nielsen data, in 2021, around 34% of households in the United States that had video streaming capability used ad-supported streaming services.
IMDb, the TV and film site that Amazon purchased back in 1998, launched the free-to-stream service in 2019 under the name IMDb Freedive, according to TechCrunch.
On Apr. 13, Amazon said that the product has seen massive growth, tripling its monthly active users since 2020.
Amazon has not released an active user metric for IMDb TV but said that in May 2021, it would have 120 million monthly active users across all of its ad-support video content, including IMDb TV, live sports, Twitch, and other channels.
Amazon expects to be able to grow Freevee's list of original TV and movies before 2022 ends, the company said.
Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, said that they are looking forward to building on this momentum with an increasing slate of inventive and appealing original TV shows. They are going to establish Freevee as the premier AVOD service with content that the audiences crave.
How Freevee Works
In 2019, Amazon launched the IMDbTV service in the United Kingdom and added 15 more live channels.
IMDb TV is basically a streaming service from the entertainment industry database IMDb, which is available through Amazon Prime Video.
The platform is ad-supported, and so both Amazon Prime members and nonmembers will have access to all the platform's content.
To be able to find IMDb TV, just go to the Amazon Prime Video app and click on the carousel that says "IMDb TV - Popular Movies and TV - free with ads."
In November 2021, a standalone app for IMDb TV became available for those who own Fire TV. Users can watch Amazon Prime on their computer, laptop, smart TV, or streaming stick.
IMDb TV is free of charge, and it features several classic movies and TV shows, including "Pulp Fiction," "Community," "Hell's Kitchen," and "Meet the Parents."
Related Article: Roku: Amazon Prime Video, IMDb TV Still Available on Devices, Multi-Year Extension Deal Guarantees Streaming
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Written by Sophie Webster
