IMDb TV Is Changing Its Name To ‘Freevee’ (Yep, That’s Right), And The Jokes Are Rolling In
In a move to bolster its ad-supported streaming service (or AVOD, if you nasty), Amazon has announced that it’s rebranding its IMDb TV service as “Freevee.” The rebrand will officially go down on April 27, and with it, comes a commitment to expanding the original programming on the service by a whopping 70 percent, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Over the past two years, we have seen tremendous growth for our AVOD service and are committed to bringing our audiences premium, free-to-consumer content,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in a press release. “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 service with content audiences crave.”
Amazon tipped its hat last year towards a larger commitment to its ad-supported service by announcing a new Bosch spinoff for the platform that’s technically just more episodes of Bosch, which is a big deal. Bosch is a consistent performer for Prime Video, so it only makes sense that Amazon would use the series to lure viewers over to what is now Freevee. Parks and Rec creator Mike Schur is also teaming up with Shea Serrano to bring a new scripted comedy, Primo, to the service.
As for that name, well, the reactions are mixed. Some people are feeling it while others are having a field day with the name that’s rife for the dunking.
You can see reactions to IMDb TV rebranding itself as Freevee below:
LOL, come on. Freevee is as a parody name. https://t.co/dkmv3Re0K5
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) April 13, 2022
*checks date to make sure it's not April 1*
*also checks date to make sure it's not the early 2010s*
IMDb TV has just announced that they have rebranded. The streaming service will now be known as "Amazon Freevee". pic.twitter.com/KnJgpcPmBb
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) April 13, 2022
Lmao imagine acquiring a website with well over a decade of name recognition and just being like "uhhhhhh freevee"
— Zane Schacht – Voice Goblin (@VoicesByZane) April 13, 2022
"Amazon Freevee" is the most "Stephanie McMahon smiling dot jpeg" thing that has ever existed.
— Joe Reid (@joereid) April 13, 2022
You know…I don’t hate it. And it’s way better than IMDb TV. It’s not a good name by any means, but freevee is kind of goofy fun – and way more accurate than trying to sell a FAST service as an extension of a database. https://t.co/vRsLVMrTn9
— julia alexander (@loudmouthjulia) April 13, 2022
#Freevee sounds like a robot TV channels would have invented in 1982 PSAs trying to convince people not to abandon them in favor of HBO.
— David Mello (@impalergeneral) April 13, 2022
Freevee is short for "frick vites"
— Steve Greene (@stevebruin) April 13, 2022
Freevee is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad name. pic.twitter.com/GZ7yrCJYg8
— Ryan Schwartz (@RyanSchwartz) April 13, 2022
If this is the name they went with, what do you think got cut https://t.co/YHEHUnYwor
— Jessica Derschowitz (@jessicasara) April 13, 2022
The person who came up with Freevee probably makes a six-figure salary https://t.co/Jv0yrVNvbg
— Phil Nobile Jr. (@PhilNobileJr) April 13, 2022
[walking around in smoking jacket with big cigar] hmrrmmmm…freevee….no…quibi? No….tubi? Fubu? I can’t decide https://t.co/csZDRR8oB4
— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) April 13, 2022
My take on Freevee is that being able to use the name of a streaming service in a sentence and being taken seriously should be a prerequisite.
— Myles McNutt (@Memles) April 13, 2022
I'm unable to control my laughter thinking about the number of focus groups, executive meetings and pitch sessions that led to the creation of Amazon Freevee, which is somehow even dumber than Internet Movie Database TV. pic.twitter.com/mBUFcceGpU
— Mr. Mase (@masekerwick) April 13, 2022
Live Freevee or Die Hard
— Erik Anderson (@awards_watch) April 13, 2022
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)