Amazon Freevee

Overview

Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) is a free ad-supported streaming service operated by Amazon, launched in 2019. The platform is integrated directly into the Amazon Prime Video app and available on Amazon Fire TV devices, making it accessible to the hundreds of millions of Amazon customers who use Prime Video globally. Freevee offers films and television content at no cost through advertising, operating as Amazon's AVOD tier alongside the subscription-based Prime Video.

Amazon Freevee's integration within the Prime Video ecosystem gives it a discovery advantage over standalone AVOD platforms: films on Freevee appear in Amazon's search results and recommendation system alongside Prime Video content, exposing them to the full Amazon Prime Video user base rather than only those who specifically seek out free content. This built-in discoverability is a meaningful distribution advantage for films placed on the platform.

Distribution Model

Amazon Freevee licenses content from studios, distributors, and independent rights holders under revenue-sharing arrangements based on advertising revenue generated from viewership. The platform takes a non-exclusive license in most cases, allowing films to remain on other platforms simultaneously.

Independent filmmakers can reach Freevee through aggregators including Filmhub and Quiver Digital, which have licensing relationships with Amazon's AVOD programming. Films delivered to Amazon through standard aggregator channels may appear on either Prime Video (subscription) or Freevee (ad-supported) depending on Amazon's content programming decisions.

Amazon's Ecosystem Advantage

Freevee's position within Amazon's broader ecosystem provides several distribution advantages:

• Discovery: Films on Freevee appear in Amazon search results alongside Prime Video content
• Device reach: Available on all Amazon Fire TV devices, which are among the most-sold streaming devices in the US
• Audience scale: Amazon's hundreds of millions of active users provide potential audience reach that standalone AVOD platforms cannot match
• Algorithmic promotion: Amazon's recommendation algorithms can promote Freevee content to relevant audiences based on viewing history and purchasing behaviour

For independent filmmakers, Freevee placement through Amazon's delivery ecosystem is one of the higher-value AVOD placements available, given the audience scale and discovery infrastructure.

What Filmmakers Should Know

Freevee does not acquire content directly from filmmakers outside of standard Amazon delivery channels. Filmmakers seeking Freevee placement should deliver through an aggregator with Amazon distribution relationships. Note that Amazon's content programming team decides whether delivered content appears on Prime Video (subscription) or Freevee (ad-supported) -- filmmakers cannot directly control which tier their film appears in through the standard delivery process.

For films already on Prime Video through a distribution deal, Amazon may move content between tiers (subscription to ad-supported) over time as part of its content management decisions, which can affect per-view revenue calculations.

See Also

For how AVOD and subscription streaming tiers work alongside each other in Amazon's ecosystem, see Streaming vs Theatrical Revenue. For aggregators that deliver to Amazon Freevee and Prime Video, see Filmhub and Quiver Digital in this directory.