On Wednesday, Amazon announced that its free streaming service IMDb TV will be renamed Amazon Freevee. In a news release, Amazon said that the new name will take effect on April 27. Amazon further informed that the streaming service will also expand its original programming by 70% this year, with spinoffs of shows such as "Bosh: Legacy" and other series. It also plans to add more original movies. The company informed that in the past two years, its ad-supported service has tripled its monthly active users and is expected to launch in Germany later this year.
Head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke in a press release said: "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 (advertising-based video on demand) service with content audiences crave.”
This announcement comes as the retail giant aims to boost its streaming services. Last month, the company closed an $8.5 billion deal to acquire Hollywood studio MGM. This was Amazon's second-largest acquisition following its $13.7 billion deal with Whole Foods in the year 2017. That acquisition was done in order to compete effectively against its rivals such as Netflix and Disney+.