The update will be deployed in the territories where Freevee is currently available, the U.S., UK, Germany and Austria. Going forward, the content currently labeled as Freevee will be designated for non-Prime customers as “Watch for Free” on detail pages.

No layoffs related to the move are expected. As part of previous restructurings, Freevee’s content team already had been integrated into Amazon MGM Studios; its business team has been part of Prime Video.

With the consolidation, Amazon is leaning into Prime Video already being a hybrid destination for both Prime members and non-members. It is broader than a typical streamer as it also offers new and old movies to rent or buy, a library of FAST Channels as well as sample of Prime Video originals in front of the paywall, like the first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, first three episodes of The Boys and the first episode of Fallout. That will continue.

“We have built Prime Video into a first-stop entertainment destination where customers can personalize their viewing experience by streaming exclusive Prime member entertainment produced by Amazon MGM Studios, licensed movies and series, content from other services as an add-on subscription, live sports, blockbuster movies and series to rent or buy, FAST Channels and the complete Amazon Freevee content offering,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “To deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers, we have decided to phase out Freevee branding. There will be no change to the content available for Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be accessible for non-Prime members, including select Originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed movies and series, and a broad library of FAST Channels – all available on Prime Video.”

Speculation about Freevee going away have circulated since Amazon announced at the end of last year that Prime Video would be introducing ads Jan. 29, 2024. The move largely eliminated the distinction between Prime Video, Amazon’s subscription video on demand (SVOD) streaming platform, and Freevee, its sibling AVOD service. (Through the acquisition of MGM, Amazon also owns SVOD platform MGM+.)

Freevee helped get Amazon’s toe into the advertising business. The company then instantly became the dominant player in the field when Prime Video flipped the switch to an ad-supported model having been partially in the game since its acquisition of Thursday Night Football.

Still, Amazon in February pushed back at rumors that it was planning to shut down Freevee, calling the platform “an important streaming offering providing both Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of hit movies, shows, and originals, all for free.”

But there was very little mention of Freevee at the Amazon Prime upfront in May, with Prime Video as the prime focus of the company’s pitch to advertisers.

Freevee scripted original series such as American Rust: Broken Justice and the upcomingOn Call had already started migrating to Prime Video before its introduction of ads. That was followed in the past few months by the announcement that the third and final season of Bosch: Legacy would be shared across Freevee and Prime Video, with Freevee’s latest new scripted series, The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, also recently debuting on both platforms. Shows like Judy Justice, Tribunal Justice and Hollywood Houselift With Jeff Lewis also were made available on Prime Video, while the Freevee live FAST channels were rebranded as Amazon Prime Video Channels on Fire TV.

While scripted series development across the company had been centralized at Amazon MGM Studios, producers still had been able to pitch shows to Freevee. I hear recently all upcoming pitch meetings as well as any pending deals for such projects have been canceled.

Freevee traces its roots back to January 2019, when it was launched by Amazon subsidiary IMDb as Freedive. It was subsequently rebranded as IMDb TV, Freevee and Amazon Freevee.

Jury Duty proved a breakout hit for Freevee, earning four Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series. Other notable series that originated at Freevee include Bosch: Legacy, continuing one of Prime Video’s signature series.

Amazon hasn’t broken out viewership stats, but said in 2022 when it rebranded the service to Freevee that its monthly active user base had tripled between 2020 and ’22 to 65 million.

IMDb, which is owned by Amazon, has gained exclusive free streaming rights to just over 20 shows that are controlled by Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International division. The first shows to be available on the platform will be Lost, Ally McBeal, and Malcolm in the Middle. The full roster of IMDb Disney shows includes Desperate Housewives, My So-Called Life, White Collar, The Glades, Army Wives, Boston Legal, Graceland, L.A. Law, Legends, Lie to Me, Private Practice, Revenge, Roswell, St. Elsewhere, Terra Nova, Ugly Betty, The Unit, and Witches of East End.

This news comes not long after Disney launched its own, non-ad supported streaming platform Disney+, which has gained just over 28 million subscribers in just three months. Though the success of Disney+ is notable, Deadline explains that the move to streaming means Disney will be losing a lot of the revenue they would normally get from licensing their content to other companies rather than streaming it. The shows licensed to IMDb TV are some of the few Disney shows remaining that are not exclusive to Disney+.

The acquisition of these popular properties is also good news for IMDb TV. IMDb TV launched in January of last year as “Freedive,” and is a free to use ad-supported video-on-demand platform, or AVOD. IMDb competes with other AVODs such as Crackle, which is owned by Sony, and Tubi TV. Other popular and upcoming streaming platforms are currently planning on having or already have an AVOD tier to their subscription plans, including Hulu (Disney), Peacock (NBCUniversal), and Pluto TV (ViacomCBS).

Lost will be available on IMDb TV on May 1st. Ally McBeal will be available on April 1st, and Malcolm in the Middle will be available June 1st.

IMDb has dumped Freedive as the name for the service it launched in January — rebranding it as “IMDb TV” (somewhat confusingly, as it includes movies as well).

Over the next few months, IMDb will add “thousands” of new titles to IMDb TV, which it claims will triple the number of movies and TV shows available to watch for free for users in the U.S. (A rep declined to provide more specific figures.) In addition, the company says it plans to launch IMDb TV in Europe later this year.

IMDb’s expanded ad-supported VOD lineup comes through new deals with studios including Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM. New titles to become available July 1 on IMDb TV include Lionsgate’s “La La Land,” the Oscar-winning musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling — the first time it will become available on an ad-supported streaming service.

Others slated to join the service next month include “Sense and Sensibility” (1995) starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, “Draft Day” starring Kevin Costner, and “A Knight’s Tale” with Heath Ledger. “Captain Fantastic,” the 2016 dramedy starring Viggo Mortensen, is available now on IMDb TV.

According to Amazon, IMDb TV runs half the ads of typical network TV broadcasts. IMDb is tripling down in the burgeoning AVOD space as it squares off against competitors including Tubi, the Roku Channel, Crackle, Viacom’s Pluto TV, and Walmart’s Vudu.

Here’s the logo for IMDb TV, which has replaced Freedive as the brand name across IMDb properties:

Content on IMDb TV spans multiple genres, including comedy, kids and family, romance, thrillers, sci-fi, documentaries, and horror.

According to the company, popular television shows on IMDb TV include “Fringe,” “Duck Dynasty” and “The Bachelor.” Movies available free to stream include “Drive,” “Donnie Darko,” “Monster” and Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves.”

IMDb TV is currently available only in the U.S. It’s accessible on the IMDb website and as a free channel in Amazon’s Prime Video app across hundreds of devices. That includes Amazon’s own Fire TV streaming-media products, which the tech giant claims has over 34 million active users worldwide. IMDb TV streaming titles currently are not available on IMDb’s iOS and Android apps.

“IMDb TV brings some of the best free content into the living room,” Marc Whitten, VP of Amazon’s Fire TV, said in a statement. “We’re excited that our U.S. customers now have access to even more free TV shows and movies through the app and that customers in Europe can soon enjoy this great service on the biggest screen in their home.”

The ad-supported channel will let users watch films and television shows on the IMDb website, using their computers or Amazon Fire TV devices. It’ll be available soon on IMDb’s mobile apps. The service expands IMDb’s video offerings beyond short-form original series, trailers and celebrity interviews.

“Customers already rely on IMDb to discover movies and TV shows and decide what to watch,” said Col Needham, Founder and CEO of IMDb. “With the launch of IMDb Freedive, they can now also watch full-length movies and TV shows on IMDb and all Amazon Fire TV devices for free.” 

IMDb’s offering is similar to the Roku Channel, which similarly brings together a collection of movies and television shows that are free to watch.

The ad-supported service seeks to capitalize on IMDb’s considerable reach. IMDb is a leading source of information about movies, TV shows and celebrity information, offering details about more than 5 million movies, TV and entertainment programs and more than 8 million cast and crew members. Its combined web and mobile audience reaches more than 250 million unique monthly visitors.

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for information about the size of the video collection. In announcing the service, it said the IMDb Freedive catalog will continue to evolve, with new titles added regularly. It’s available at http://www.imdb.com/freedive.

The content is free to watch without a subscription, and can be viewed on a phone, laptop or a big screen by way of Amazon Fire TV devices.

IMDb was already the home for some video content, including trailers, celebrity interviews and short-form original series such as The IMDb Show, Casting Calls,and No Small Parts. These are now being bundled into Freedive, says the company, and will remain free to watch.

The new service will also feature X-Ray, the IMDb-powered service that offers details about the title’s cast, crew, music, and more.

“Customers already rely on IMDb to discover movies and TV shows and decide what to watch,” said Col Needham, Founder and CEO of IMDb, in a statement about launch. “With the launch of IMDb Freedive, they can now also watch full-length movies and TV shows on IMDb and all Amazon Fire TV devices for free. We will continue to enhance IMDb Freedive based on customer feedback and will soon make it available more widely, including on IMDb’s leading mobile apps.”

The launch comes at a time when the streaming industry as a whole is focusing more heavily on AVOD – ad-supported video-on-demand. Roku, for example, has been expanding the content available on The Roku Channel, which offers ad-supported movies, TV, news, sports, and other entertainment. Plex at CES this weekalso said it would launch ad-supported content this year.

For Roku, the availability of free content on Roku devices may help its hardware sales business, and clearly Amazon has the same idea.

However, Roku is now augmenting its free service with additional paid subscriptions. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Channels service for cord-cutters, which consists of optional paid subscriptions to channels like HBO, Showtime, Starz, and others, is only available to Prime members.

It’s a bit odd for Amazon to have its TV shows and movies split up across two separate services – one from Amazon, through Prime, and another from its subsidiary IMDb.

The industry knew Amazon was preparing to enter the AVOD space, it was only a matter of when. It was earlier rumored that the service would launch this past fall, but that didn’t come to pass.

The new streaming service is live now at www.imdb.com/freedive. On Fire TV devices, a new icon will appear in the “Your Apps & Channels” row, says IMDb.

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