Amazon has made its push into the ad-supported video space with Freedive, a streaming service from subsidiary IMDb that launched Thursday.
The platform, which is available without a subscription, kicked off with a library of Hollywood content including the TV shows “Fringe,” “Heroes,” “The Bachelor” and “Without a Trace” as well as movies such as “Awakenings,” “Foxcatcher,” “Memento” and “The Last Samurai.”
IMDb’s original video series, including “The IMDb Show,” “Casting Calls” and “No Small Parts,” are also available on the service.
Capitalizing on IMDb’s plethora of movie data, Freedive comes with an “X-Ray” feature, which provides information on the cast, crew, trivia and soundtracks of the content being watched.
While some analysts expected the service to be available only through Amazon Fire streaming devices, the e-commerce giant has made it available on laptops and desktops via the IMDB website. As of now, Freedive is only available in the United States.
“Customers already rely on IMDb to discover movies and TV shows and decide what to watch,” Col Needham, Founder and CEO of IMDb said in a press release. “With the launch of IMDb Freedive, they can now also watch full-length movies and TV shows on IMDb and all Amazon Fire TV devices for free. We will continue to enhance IMDb Freedive based on customer feedback and will soon make it available more widely, including on IMDb’s leading mobile apps.”
The news comes at a time when 73 percent of adults who typically watch streaming OTT video say they watch ad-supported OTT video, according to a 2018 IAB study.
Freedive joins a growing list of ad-supported video on-demand services, including The Roku Channel, Tubi, PopcornFlix, Vudu, FilmRise and YouTube.