The FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) wars are heating up, with Amazon today announcing that it will add more than 100 Amazon Originals from Prime Video to its Freevee streaming option. More than 50 movies and TV shows are now available to stream on Freevee, and each month more Amazon Originals will be added to the list.
Freevee highlights now include Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, The Grand Tour, Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch, Modern Love, Savage X Fenty, Sylvie’s Love, Troop Zero, and Late Night, from Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling.
Freevee is available within the Amazon Prime Video app and can be accessed even without a paid Prime Video subscription. The app is available on Amazon Fire TV sets, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and other streaming devices. It can also be accessed on many of the best smart TVs as well as iOS and Android devices.
Amazon Originals scheduled to launch in May on Freevee include The Summer I Turned Pretty and the first three episodes of A League of Their Own, along with The Terminal List, Paper Girls, Goliath, The Tick, full seasons of Homecoming and Upload, and The Vast of Night. According to the company’s release, all shows will simultaneously remain available on Prime Video for ad-free viewing.
Amazon further announced that the entire first seasons of Amazon Originals Reacher and The Wheel of Time will also be available for viewing on Freevee later this year.
Analysis: Freevee is a gateway to Prime Video
Streamer maker Roku was early to jump on the FAST track with its The Roku Channel and Amazon has since been playing catch-up with Freevee, the name it gave to its re-branded IMDb TV channel back in 2022. If you can deal with commercial interruptions while watching movies and TV shows, FAST options like Freevee provide a massive amount of free-to-stream programming.
With other FAST apps like Pluto and Tubi available on most smart TVs, along with the built-in free TV portals that many set brands provide (Samsung’s TV Plus, for example), there is no shortage of options for accessing ad-supported movies and shows without having to pay a subscription fee.
What is there to watch on FAST platforms? You’ll typically find a mix of national news programs, old movies and TV shows (Gunsmoke, anyone?), reality series, and much more, all of it presented in a cable TV-style grid. And while I personally don’t find free ad-supported TV worth my time, I’m also keenly aware that the best streaming services are getting more expensive, and some viewers are no longer willing to pay big bucks to have a bundle of ad-free subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu and the like at their disposal.
Freevee is one of the better free options I’ve checked out, and with the addition of the company’s Amazon Originals to the mix, it’s going to provide strong competition for its FAST rivals. Right off the bat, I’d recommend streaming The Vast of Night and, later on this year, the visually sumptuous The Wheel of Time.
Making a limited amount of Amazon Original programming available to stream for free is also a great way for the company to acquaint viewers with the best Prime Video TV shows and best Prime Video movies, which will doubtless encourage more viewers to subscribe to its paid streaming service.
