Amazon Shutting Down Freevee To Allow Prime Video Absorption
Come with me and you’ll see, it’s a world of inevitable consolidation
Everyone saw this coming. After turning the default Prime Video tier into an ad-supported one and moving ad-free higher, Amazon is officially addressing the elephant in the room. Or is it the second redundant elephant? They are phasing out Freevee, its sibling ad-supported video on demand service, over the coming weeks, having already migrated its original and library content. Its ongoing series Judy Justice, Neighbours, Tribunal Justice, America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation, as well as its ended series like Jury Duty and Sprung will remain in front of the paywall. To this point, Freevee had only been available in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Austria.
Series and movie that had remained under Freevee’s purview will be labeled as will be designated as “Watch for Free” on detail pages for non-Prime customers. Amazon is leaning into Prime Video being a hybrid destination for both Prime members and non-members, adopting Freevee’s FAST channels on top of already being a digital marketplace for rentals and purchases.
“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.”
It brings an end to a nearly six-year run for the service that launched in January 2019 as IMDb Freedive. It rebranded to IMDb TV by the end of the year and to its final name in 2022. The countdown clock began in September 2023 with the Prime Video ad tier announcement. In February, mqere days after they were implemented, TVLine was already reporting the shutdown, but it was vehemently denied at the time. They said the platform was “an important streaming offering providing both Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of hit movies, shows, and originals, all for free.” However Freevee was barely mentioned at the May upfronts, with Prime Video being the dominant focus of the company’s pitch. While scripted series development across the company had been centralized at Amazon MGM Studios, producers could still pitch shows to Freevee. Now, all upcoming pitch meetings as well as any pending deals for such projects have been canceled.
Freevee did indeed still have its own app, but its UI doesn’t quite distinguish itself. From Prime Video? Sure, but the rows have such big thumbnails that the home page just doesn’t have much aesthetic flair to it.
Source: Deadline