Amazon’s advertising-financed streaming service soon available in Europe

Author: Mario Schmidtgen
Date: 19.06.2019

Assortment will be extended

Amazon will rename its ad-financed video streaming service and also extend its product range. The previous IMDB Freedive will now become IMDB TV. The service will now also be launched in Europe.

Customers can watch TV series and films financed by advertising free of charge via the streaming service. This means that during the film or even before it, advertisements are shown that cannot be skipped.

According to Amazon, contracts have already been signed with film studios such as Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and MGM Studios. This allows that their content can be offered via the streaming service. Films such as La La Land or Captain Fantastic shall be included in the range as early as July 1, 2019. However, Amazon did not name an exact number of new films and series.

IMDB TV is distributed as a prime channel via the Amazon Video App and Amazon’s Fire TV devices. The content can then be viewed on the tablet, smartphone, browser or PC.

Assortment extended

The first version of IMDB TV was launched in the USA at the beginning of the year. At that time the service was still called IMDB Freedive. When the movie or series pauses, the commercial blocks are marked in the timeline. According to the service, there should be five to 12 advertising blocks per film.

Initially, users had access to almost 430 feature films and 150 series. The range was now extended to around 500 films and 275 series. It is not yet known whether the same range as in the USA will be available in Europe. Prime Video can stream more than 20,000 films and 1700 series.