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In response to an Adweek report, Amazon is planning to sundown Freevee, its preexisting ad-supported app, as quickly as April. This revelation is an unmistakable sign that the corporate is standing agency with a brand new ad-supported tier for Prime Video and not wants a second comparable service—regardless of that service having created Jury Duty, an Emmy-nominated shock hit, final yr.
Freevee, as its goofy identify implies, is a free, ad-supported TV providing that has lived in Prime Video but additionally functioned as a stand-alone app. Amazon initially launched the service as IMDb TV in 2019, earlier than rebranding it as Freevee in 2022. Previous to the success of Jury Obligation, it was primarily identified for unique sequence like Bosch: Legacy and American Rust, and for tricking Prime subscribers not paying shut sufficient consideration into watching programming that has adverts. (All Freevee reveals will now reportedly turn into property of Prime Video correct.)
Though no less than one advert rep has downgraded the Adweek report about Freevee to the level of rumor—and Amazon has flat-out denied it—the information definitely is sensible within the context of Amazon’s latest actions. The corporate introduced layoffs in January, with particularly onerous cuts amongst Freevee’s marketing and strategy staff (two of three administrators apparently moved over to Prime Video).
What makes far much less sense, nonetheless, is the timing of this information. If Amazon had been planning to jettison Freevee after rolling out the ad-supported tier, why not simply announce each strikes on the similar time? The monthlong lag is much more puzzling when contemplating one other revelation in the Adweek report, that “the corporate is actively monitoring client suggestions and charges of churn to find out the success of the initiative, in response to three folks conversant in the matter.”
If Amazon is certainly monitoring the churn price whereas evaluating whether or not its Prime Video plan is a hit, asserting the top of Freevee now suggests the corporate could ignore any adverse findings. It’s a transfer that appears designed to mission confidence within the new $2.99-per-month ad-free possibility. Maybe the rationale for the timing of the announcement has to do with one thing that has occurred within the weeks because the latest change to Prime Video—a lawsuit over false advertising, which can finally attain class-action status.
The announcement comes at a time when many Prime Video customers could also be on the fence about upgrading, since Amazon might conceivably be getting ready to backing down over the lawsuit. What higher method to persuade these customers of Amazon’s dedication to the brand new regime than booting its fallback plan?
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