Three years after its launch, Amazon is officially rebranding its free ad-supported video on demand streaming service from IMDb TV to Amazon Freevee. Its relaunch date has been scheduled for later this month on April 27. In addition to its U.S. and UK offerings, the company is also planning to expand Freevee to Germany later this year.
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The streaming service’s upcoming rebrand also coincides with Amazon’s plans to increase originals by 70% in 2022, including the Bosch: Legacy spin-off, which will debut on May 6; the Australia crime drama Troppo; a coming-of age comedy titled Primo; and the upcoming High School series from Clea DuVall, along with Tegan and Sara Quin.
“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,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “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.”
“We have been delighted by the viewer response to our modern television network in a streaming landscape,” said Lauren Anderson and Ryan Pirozzi, co-heads of content and programming for Freevee. “With Freevee, our current and future viewers will discover a home that allows creative talent the freedom to tell impactful, entertaining, and inspiring stories; a service accessible to all and freed from time-slot restrictions and device availability; and a destination that provides customers with both new and familiar, escapist and engaging content—free of charge.”
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Amazon Freevee will also include exclusive original movies such as the romantic comedy Love Accidentally starring Brenda Song and Aaron O’Connell. More new shows are expected to be announced on May 2.
