EXCLUSIVE: It’s official — free, ad-supported video on demand streaming service Amazon Freevee, the home of such originals as Jury Duty, Bosch: Legacy and Judy Justice, will be phased out over the coming weeks. Its content, which already has migrated and is available on Prime Video, will remain there, with new episodes of Freevee shows, including Judy Justice, Neighbours, Tribunal Justice, America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation and Bosch: Legacy as well as older originals including Jury Duty, High School, Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis and Primo, staying in front of the paywall and available to non-Prime customers.
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 looking to build on 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, which non-Prime customers can watch, 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.”
Speculations 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.
Freevee helped get Amazon’s toe into the advertising business; the company became instantly 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 upcoming On Call had already started migrating to Prime Video before its introduction to 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 made available on Prime Video, while the Freevee live FAST channels were rebranded as Amazon Prime Video Channels on on Fire TV.
While scripted series development across the company had been centralized at Amazon MGM Studios, producers still have 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 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, which will continue to be available in front of the pay wall and
Video advertising is playing a growing part in the broader strategy at Amazon, especially with the company making significant investments in sports rights. In the fourth quarter of 2023, which saw most of the second season of exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football streams, the tech giant reported a 27% rise in advertising services revenue.
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.
