Amazon Freevee app reportedly shutting down in favor of ads on Prime Video

Ben Schoon | Feb 21 2024 - 11:24 am PT

Amazon’s free, ad-supported video streaming app Freevee is reportedly shutting down amid the arrival of ads in Prime Video.

Freevee launched in 2022 as a rebranded and rebooted iMDB TV. The new branding also ushered in new original content and a major library expansion to the entirely free streaming service that was dependent on users viewing ads. It stood opposite of Amazon Prime Video which, at the time, was an ad-free service included in Amazon Prime memberships. Freevee and Prime Video often shared content, with the latter offering it without ad breaks.

But, apparently, Amazon is set to shut down Freevee this year. That’s according to a new report from AdWeek, with a source familiar with Amazon’s plans claiming that the company would no longer persist with two ad-supported services. The shutdown could take place very quickly, as soon as April 2024.

Freevee, notably, is an entirely free service that doesn’t even require an Amazon Prime membership to use. Prime Video, by contrast, requires a base subscription or an Amazon Prime membership and now only becomes ad-free with the addition of a $2.99/month fee on top of either access model.

It’s further suggested by sources for the report that Amazon could shift Prime Video to have a three-tiered model, offering content completely free and ad-supported as Freevee does today, having an ad-supported subscription offering, and then a premium tier that’s ad-free for an additional cost.

The decision is apparently not final just yet, as Amazon is still looking at initial data from the first 30 days of having ads on Prime Video, weighing out if too many customers leave the service altogether or upgrade to ad-free, as both would apparently delay the shutdown of Freevee, but neither concern has apparently “materialized” yet.

Apparently, though, Amazon has told some that there are “no changes to Freevee” planned, including TVMoJoe.

There are no changes to Freevee. Amazon Freevee remains an important streaming offering providing both Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of hit movies, shows, and Originals, all for free.