Amazon is working on a new video service for those who own one of its Fire TV devices, according to The Information. The new streaming service will be ad-supported and will aim to capture a chunk of the $70 billion TV advertising market. The service is reportedly being developed by IMDB, which is owned by Amazon. The new video channel may be called Free Dive.
The ad-sales portion of Amazon’s revenue has been growing significantly in recent years. According to The Information, estimates place earnings from the category at around $8 billion in 2018.
Gaining at least a few million viewers should be fairly easy for the internet sales behemoth. There are roughly 48 million Amazon streaming devices in the wild and we imagine a decent portion of those who own some form of Fire TV would at least give the new service a cursory glance when it becomes available to them.
It wouldn’t be the first time a company that makes video streaming devices steps into the world of content creation: Roku offers the Roku Channel with its own devices. Roku Channel is also free and ad-supported, offering a somewhat eclectic blend of content to those without subscriptions to popular services like Amazon Prime Video or Netflix.
Amazon may have a bit better content than Roku for its new service: The company is reportedly in talks with major TV studios to license older TV shows that have aired on their networks. What Amazon can license will depend on how much the company is willing to spend, but the fact that Amazon is even talking to major studios means that the company may be able to snag a few compelling titles for cult viewers to check out on their Fire TV for free.
As far as we’re concerned, any new streaming service from Amazon could be interesting. We’re big fans of Prime Video and expect that this new option could be decent if the company adds a few solid shows to its streaming platform.
Interested in watching some good Amazon-made content in the meantime? Be sure to check out our list of the best shows on Amazon right now.
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