Amazon Finally Realized There’s No Need for Freevee
It took a while, but it’s finally happened: Amazon is shutting down Freevee, its free, fully ad-supported streaming service. As it turns out — and as we pointed out in January — there was just no point in having two ad-supported streaming platforms.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company has “decided to phase out Freevee branding.”
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“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,” the spokesperson continued.
You can read the full statement toward the bottom of this story if you’d like to — fair warning, it includes a lot of throat-clearing.
A person close to the decision to shutter Freevee told IndieWire that there will be no layoffs associated with this change.
At the end of January, Amazon added ads to Prime Video, and subscribers were forced to consume the commercials unless they opted to pay extra to return to an ad-free free environment. It was then we asked, “what’s the point of Freevee now?” Jeff Bezos finally heard us. (Just kidding, he’s busy not endorsing presidents.)
What doomed Freevee was actually not its semi-corny (but informative!) name. IMDb was a stronger brand, but it was never really adopted as a player within the streaming-video universe. Some analysts at the time speculated that most people watching Freevee maybe don’t know they’re actually watching it. Freevee was already integrated into Prime Video, so unless you had downloaded the separate Freevee app, you were probably watching a tile within the greater Prime Video ecosystem.
With far more Prime Video users than Freevee users, it was illogical to split advertisers between the two platforms. The Freevee brand’s fate was sealed when shows like its biggest hit “Jury Duty,” as well as “On Call” and “American Rust: Broken Justice,” migrated over to Prime Video. The two services even weirdly shared the third season of “Bosch: Legacy.” Now all those shows and some others like “Judy Justice,” “Neighbours,” and “Primo” are simply becoming Prime Video originals. Freevee also includes proper FAST channels, but those too are on Prime Video (or will be soon).
No Freevee programming will be put behind a Prime Video paywall, we confirmed.
“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,” the Amazon statement reads. “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.”
Amazon is not the only media company shuttering (or at least, trimming) free streaming: Peacock eliminated its free, limited tier in 2023. Pluto TV (owned by Paramount, but not integrated within Paramount+) and Tubi (Fox) remain top free-streaming options.
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