Smith/Gado Collection | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Amazon entered the ad-supported video streaming market three years ago with IMDb TV. Later this month, this product will have a new name.
On April 27, IMDb TV will become Amazon Freevee, a name the company says better reflects the free nature of the service.
The ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) space has caught fire in recent years, gaining momentum during the coronavirus pandemic as consumers streamed more movies and shows. Competitors include Paramount Global’s Pluto TV, Crackle, Tubi, and Roku’s Roku Channel.
Amazon is trying to play both sides of the streaming market. The Prime Video service is available through a $9 monthly subscription or as part of the $15 per month Prime membership. Amazon competes in this regard with companies like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, though some of them also have free ad-supported tiers.
Paid subscription services still dominate the streaming space, but ad-supported offerings are gaining ground. As of January 2021, about 34% of US households with video streaming capability were using ad-supported streaming services, according to Nielsen data.
IMDb, the film and TV site that Amazon bought in 1998, launched the free-to-stream service in 2019 under the name IMDb Freedive. Amazon said on Wednesday that the product has “experienced tremendous growth,” tripling its monthly active users over the past two years.
Amazon didn’t release active user metrics for IMDb TV, but said in May it has 120 million monthly active users across all of its ad-supported video content, including IMDb TV, Twitch, live sports and other channels.
Amazon expects to expand Freevee’s roster of original television shows and movies later this year, the company said.
“We look forward to building on that momentum with a growing roster of imaginative and universally engaging originals, and excited to establish Freevee as the leading AVOD service with content audiences crave,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, in a statement.
Disclosure: Peacock is the streaming service of NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company. Comcast owns NBCUniversal.
WATCH: Amazon Prime Video is building an experiential marketing activation at SXSW