The rumor that Amazon is rebranding its free streaming service IMDBtv has been making the rounds for the past six months but the move was given its first public airing with Amazon Studios chief Jen Salke revealing that the service would be renamed “soon”.
The service, which airs series including Alex Rider, Leverage: Redemption and Judy Justice, was originally launched in 2019 as IMDb Freedive before being rebranded as IMDb TV a few months later.
It’s now set for a third name as it was thought, with its six syllables, to be too cumbersome for customers to pronounce. Deadline understands that it’s in the final stages of choosing a name and is down to two possibilities.
Salke revealed the news during a keynote session at the virtual Realscreen, where she was talking up the company’s non-scripted ambitions.
“We are trying lots of things and now we’re expanding given the success of those things to even more genres. What you’ll start to see both through Prime Video, Amazon Studios and the IMDBtv team that works within Studios producing for IMDBtv, soon to be renamed, building out a real destination for lifestyle, cooking and for all of these different categories that would be completely additive to the experience and the value of your Prime membership so it’s a pretty exciting opportunity across the company. The ambition is huge, it requires patience but we’ll get there and there’s a method to the madness and I’m excited to see how it all unfolds,” she said.
Amazon’s slate of non-scripted series including documentaries such as the All or Nothing franchise, which is currently filming Arsenal, Lorena, Free Meek and buzzy pyramid scheme series LuLaRich as well as recent comedy doc series Phat Tuesdays.
On the entertainment side, the company has Making The Cut, which is returning for a third season, competition series The Pack, reality series Tampa Baes and World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji.
It has also got comedy format LOL, which was originally developed in Japan, remade in 10 markets including Mexico, Australia, Italy and Iran as well as local versions of The Masked Singer in Japan and Love Island in France.
Salke added, “There will be a lot of opportunity at Amazon as we move into the future to invest in even more unscripted content across the genres that we talked about. A big original idea, no matter what the time, will always break through and find a listener and a supporter and an advocate and an audience. The door is open, we’re just pre a bigger opening of the door. It would be wise to start thinking about what those content categories are.”
She also teased a new documentary from Dreamworks, although she didn’t give details.
Amazon is currently in the process of acquiring MGM and Salke said that it is also looking for further opportunities. “Acquisitions, building IP, investing in games, studios, different companies that can help deliver that IP and live on Amazon for a longer time beyond the opportunities to license exclusively, you’ll see that happening internationally as well, there’s a constant look into what those opportunities might be,” she said.
