Freevee users, beware! The future of Freevee appears to be on the rocks after Amazon made changes to Prime Video’s streaming tiers.
As of January this year, Prime Video has a tiered option that includes ads, which is seemingly redundant considering Freevee is an ad-based free streaming service.
Three sources allegedly went to AdWeek and advised that Freevee was done for with Prime Video’s new ad tier, but is Freevee really gone?
Is Freevee going to be shut down?
Despite reports from multiple outlets that Freevee would be going away by April, Amazon insists that Freevee isn’t going anywhere.
“There are no changes to Freevee,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline.
“Amazon Freevee remains an important streaming offering providing both Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of hit movies, shows, and originals, all for free.”
Freevee first began in 2019 as Freedive, a service from subsidiary IMDb.
In 2019, ad-based platforms weren’t as popular as they are now, as most streaming services didn’t include ads.
Now that Prime Video has introduced advertising on its scripted series and movies, it seems that maintaining Freevee could result in some redundancy, both internally and for ad buyers.
Plus, some Freevee series and movies, such as American Rust: Broken Justice, have already been moved to Prime Video, seemingly signaling the end of Freevee.
Despite these changes, Amazon remains insistent that Freevee isn’t going anywhere.
Are ads the way of the future?
One of the best features of streaming platforms when they first debuted was the fact that, unlike broadcast television, they were free of commercials.
However, that is no longer the case.
As 2024 progresses, the use of ads has become increasingly popular, with most streaming services now offering a cheaper tier that includes ads.
Of course, members can always pay extra every month to get their streaming service to be ad-free.
For many, ads are a simple way to deal with saving a few bucks every month despite the annoyance of their resurgence.
Hulu has always had an ad-tier platform as a streaming service, with subscribers being able to pay extra to avoid those pesky commercial-like ads.
Netflix recently joined the ranks of having ads as well when they cracked down on their screen-sharing and made it so that every household has to have its own Netflix account.
Peacock, Max, AMC+, Paramount+, and more all have tiers that include ads, so it seems that we are returning to having commercials as time progresses.
For those of us who grew up with commercials on television, the changes are somewhat annoying but nothing we aren’t used to.
For those who grew used to having streaming platforms with no ads, it might be best to invest in a higher tier that doesn’t include those pesky commercial breaks.
For Amazon, the choice to reintroduce ads was a no-brainer.
CFO Brian Olsavsky told Wall Street analysts that executives “feel good” about the initial results from the new ads, calling it “an important part of the total business model” of Prime.
Will you be sad if Freevee goes away, or will you use another free streaming service like Tubi? Maybe some will shell out the big bucks to go completely commercial free. Let us know in the comments below!
Devin Piel, an entertainment news writer from the Midwest with a passion for true crime and binge-streaming the latest Netflix series, is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. You can follow her on X.