It’s easy for a video-streaming service to get lost in the shuffle. So Amazon has decided to rebrand IMDb TV—the company’s free, ad-supported streaming service—as Amazon Freevee, effective April 27.
“Our new name clearly communicates who we are: An easy-to-navigate streaming service, available to users for free, whenever and wherever they choose to watch some of the greatest original and licensed content available,” said Amazon’s director of Freeveee, Ashraf Alkarmi.
The old name didn’t exactly stand out, especially since the main IMDB.com property is best known as a website that catalogs films and TV series. But Amazon is hoping the rebrand will grab more users' attention while emphasizing its connection to the e-commerce giant. (Ironically, though, the service was previously named IMDb Freedive.)
Still, under the old name, IMDb TV has seen its usage surge. According to Amazon, the service has tripled its monthly active users over the last two years thanks to its growing distribution across TV streaming and mobile devices. The service has also been getting more original content and recently expanded to the UK with plans to launch in Germany later this year.
“We’re looking forward to building on this momentum with an increasing slate of inventive and broadly appealing originals, and are excited to establish Freevee as the premier AVOD (ad-supported video on demand) service with content audiences crave,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, in the announcement.
The plan is to grow the original content on Amazon Freevee by 70% this year. The shows will include the detective crime series Bosch: Legacy, Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis, a comedy show from Greg Garcia called Sprung, and another crime drama from Australia called Troppo. The company also plans on adding original movies to the service.
According to Amazon, IMDb TV is currently available across “hundreds of devices. This includes streaming hardware from Amazon, Roku, Google, in addition to smart TVs from LG and Samsung. The service is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS.