What you need to know
- IMDb TV will be rebranded as Freevee starting April 27.
- Amazon plans to grow its original content lineup by 70% this year.
- Freevee will get more original content, such as Bosch: Legacy and High School by Clea DuVall, among others.
IMDb TV is getting in on the streaming wars again. Amazon has announced that the ad-supported streaming service will be rebranded as Freevee starting on April 27, with an upcoming slate of original programming to bolster its content offerings.
The rebranding comes ahead of Amazon's plan to release a slate of new original shows and movies this year. The company vowed to launch 70% more exclusive content than is currently available on the platform.
"Over the past two years, we have seen tremendous growth for our AVOD service and are committed to bringing our audiences premium, free-to-consumer content,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “We’re looking forward to building on this momentum with an increasing slate of inventive and broadly appealing Originals, and are excited to establish Freevee as the premier AVOD service with content audiences crave."
One of the shows coming to Freevee is Bosch: Legacy, a spin-off of an original series for Prime Video. It will debut on May 6.
Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis, a new home-design series, and High School, a scripted series adapted for television by Clea DuVall, will also be available on the platform.
The change marks IMDb TV's return to the streaming fray after similar efforts with IMDB Freedive, an ad-supported platform that launched in 2020, didn't quite take off. It's also intended to make it clear to users that the service is free.
"Our new name clearly communicates who we are: An easy-to-navigate streaming service, available to users for free, whenever and wherever they choose to watch some of the greatest Original and licensed content available," said Ashraf Alkarmi, director of Freevee.
But more importantly, it distinguishes the streaming service from the IMDb website, which catalogs films and TV series.
Freevee will make its debut in Germany later this year. Amazon also plans to unveil new shows for the platform at its NewFronts presentation next month.
Amazon also revealed that its streaming service has tripled its monthly active users in the last two years thanks to increased distribution across some of the best streaming devices and mobile phones, among other factors. Whether the rebrand and massive content push will keep that momentum remains to be seen.
