Amazon threw cold water on reports that it has an ad-supported streaming service in the works during its third-quarter earnings call Thursday.
Amazon-owned IMDb was reportedly working on an ad-supported streaming service but Dave Fildes, direct of investor relations for the company, said that’s not the case.
“…We have no plans to build an ad-supported Prime Video offering for free at this time,” Fildes said according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.
Amazon’s rebuke comes after CNBC reported earlier this month that Amazon’s free streaming service could be launching as soon as October.
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According to the report, Amazon was in talks with three major media companies about adding their content to the service. Amazon was also reportedly going to offer ad buyers its proprietary data, and let marketers combine it with third-party data.
In August, The Information also reported that Amazon had an ad-supported streaming service in the works.
Despite not having an upcoming streaming service to sell ads for, Amazon is doing well generating advertising revenue. The company’s recently posted third-quarter results include $2.5 billion in ad revenue, up 123% year over year.
Amazon said it’s seeing strong advertising adoption among Amazon vendors and sellers, authors and third-party advertisers who want to reach Amazon customers. Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said his company is working on improving the usability of the tools for advertisers, making smarter recommendations for customers and automating activities.
“If we do this right, we think we'll both help advertisers and help Amazon consumers at the same time. So, I know it doesn't answer the question about specific rate increases or capacity, but that is the general strategy that we're seeing in advertising,” Olsavsky said according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.