Neighbours boss Jason Herbison has revealed why Amazon axed the soap despite its strong ratings.
Last month, it was confirmed that the Australian soap had been cancelled by the streamer after being picked up for its Freevee service over two years ago, which followed its initial axe in 2022.
However, Freevee has since shut down, with Neighbours folded into Prime Video, and Herbison explained that the closure of the ad-supported service "did change the landscape".
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"We were considered a very big success on Amazon Freevee, and we’re so grateful to them for this chapter and this two and a half years," he told TV Tonight.
"The team at Amazon Freevee did an incredible job of launching us over there. I think we were on bus stops all across the UK, it was amazing and they have been wonderful to work with."
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Herbison went on to explain that Freevee's axing changed the equation, and despite the soap's success on Prime, they are "just simply not part of their content strategy going forward".
"And there’s really no hard feelings with that," he added. "Things change and as I say, we’re just very grateful to them to have had this chapter."
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However, the show boss did admit that being consistently at the top of the Prime Video charts in the UK is "frustrating" given the cancellation.
"But the flip side of that is that I think we’d be more disappointed if we weren’t successful and we were just disappearing," he added.
"So we’re very, very sad that this chapter is coming to an end, but we’re also very proud that it’s done very well, and that our audience is still very invested in the show and we’d love to see it continue."
This isn't the first time Herbison has spoken about the axing, the producer suggesting last month that the upcoming finale could "be a little bit of a different tone" to its original farewell nearly three years ago.
Neighbours releases new episodes from Mondays to Thursdays for free on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video in the UK and US. In Australia, the show airs from Mondays to Thursdays at 4pm on Channel 10, with a 6.30pm repeat screening on 10 Peach Comedy.
