Amazon is expanding its free, ad-supported content offerings with the introduction of Fire TV Channels, a new and free video experience for Fire TV devices. Fire TV Channels will now be continuously updated throughout the day and integrated into several areas across the Fire TV interface, including on Home Screen rows, within Fire TV’s “Free” tab, and in category-specific pages devoted to certain genres. This update is in response to increasing customer demand for free streaming content.
The new Fire TV Channels will include new FAST channels from NHL, Xbox, and TMZ, as well as a new Travel category featuring content from Tastemade Travel, “Rick Steves’ Europe,” “Travel Hacks,” and soon, Condé Nast Traveler. Later, Fire TV Channels will also include content from the PGA. The update will pull all the new and existing FAST content together in an updated experience that provides access to a variety of categories like news, sports, food and cooking, music videos, trailers, gaming videos, comedy, and more.
Fire TV Channels are easy to use because users don’t have to create an account, sign in, or jump through any other hoops to start watching. This makes them a popular choice for customers who don’t want to add more subscriptions to their monthly bills or try to keep up with any more services. With this update, the Fire TV interface will now provide an updated experience that provides access to a variety of categories like news, sports, food and cooking, music videos, trailers, gaming videos, comedy, and more.
The news category includes access to both national news coverage as well as over 330 local news channels, including new FAST channels from NBC and Telemundo. These category pages can be accessed with just a click from Fire TV’s “Free” tab, and Amazon says more categories are “coming soon.”
Amazon is leveraging the company’s broader advertising team and capabilities to sell Fire TV’s FAST channel ad space. Amazon notes it’s sold over 200 million Fire TV devices globally and Amazon’s ad-supported streaming solutions now reach an average of 155 million unduplicated monthly viewers, or 6 out of 10 adults in the U.S.
Amazon’s competitors, such as Roku, Google TV, and YouTube, have also been offering FAST channels on their platforms. Nonetheless, Amazon’s pitch to advertisers is that they can now directly target the Fire TV customer base, which tends to include Prime subscribers and younger families, through Amazon’s DSP.
The new Fire TV experience will be rolling out to customers this week, Amazon said. Customers will be able to find the new content tiles via the Fire TV Home Screen, as well as within Fire TV’s “Free” tab. Later this summer, Fire TV will bring all the FAST categories together with the launch of an always-on Fire TV Channels destination.
