Amazon’s free streaming service is getting a facelift.
The platform — which launched as IMDb TV in 2019 — is being renamed Amazon Freevee, the company announced Wednesday. The new brand will launch on April 27 with plans to expand original programming by 70%.
“We’re looking forward to building on this momentum with an increasing slate of inventive and broadly appealing originals,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios.
The move signals more trouble for cable companies — a 2021 Pew Research Center survey reported the number of Americans subscribed to traditional cable television down to 56%.
The number of U.S. streaming subscriptions reached 353.2 million in 2021, a 14% jump over 2020, according to data from the Motion Picture Association.
Freevee is intended as Amazon’s competition for services like Pluto TV, Crackle, and Tubi.
Viewer metrics still pale in comparison to paid subscription services like Netflix and Hulu. But as of January 2021, about 34% of Americans used ad-based services like Amazon Freevee, according to Nielsen data.
• Peter Santo can be reached at psanto@washingtontimes.com.
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