AfterDawn: News

IMDB now offers movies, TV shows, for free

The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has begun offering over 6000 movie and TV shows on the site for free today, offering the streaming films with "minimal advertising interruption."

Col Needham, founder and managing director of IMDb.com, added, "We're excited to offer our users a simple online experience to watch full-length movies and TV episodes for free...our goal is to show our users every movie and TV show on the Internet for free on IMDb.com."



The new move will however also provide a new revenue opportunity for the giant e-tailer Amazon, which owns IMDB.

"On title pages where IMDb does not have the content available for free, users can click on the Amazon Video On Demand button to rent or purchase the video from Amazon," an Amazon spokesperson said. "It's great to offer customers choice. They can decide whether to watch an ad-supported movie or show on IMDb for free or rent or purchase a movie and show immediately from AVOD without commercials. So it's really the best of both worlds for TV and movie fans."

The content is coming from CBS, Hulu.com, Sony Pictures Television, and more than 500 independent filmmakers but it is unclear how the advertising revenue will be split.

You can check out the new IMDB video section here: IMDB featured videos

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Sep 2008 18:54

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• 14 comments

• PantherM

  Well that is pretty cool if they update the selection. I'm pretty sure most people on this site go to vcdquality.com to see what is out there....check the jpeg for picture quality, then check IMDb to make sure it is the correct movie and if the reviews are good so you are not wasting your time. If I could watch some of the movies directly from that site....I could ummmm.....save bandwith and HDD space.

  16.9.2008 19:16 #1

• slickwill

  I think what they are doing is a great idea as a way to combat so called "illegal uploads" of movies onto streaming video sites...except they are also uploading movies to streaming video sites (guess they have permission). The move I'm watching right now from imdb.com, titled "Raising Arizona", is streaming from hulu.com.
  
  So in conclusion, if they have tons and tons of more videos available to watch and don't get taken down, then I think things will look good in the long run.

  16.9.2008 20:17 #2

• windsong

  except that you are bombarded with commercials/ads.
  
  No thanks. I'll stick with Usenet and P2P. :)

  16.9.2008 20:33 #3

• borhan9

  I am going to have a look at this and see if its worth it even with the ads that they have within the shows.

  16.9.2008 23:23 #4

• rtm27

  I will have to check this out with my Imdb Pro account. Wonder if there will be less ads with a pro account.

  16.9.2008 23:57 #5

• sKrEwZ

  Originally posted by rtm27: I will have to check this out with my Imdb Pro account. Wonder if there will be less ads with a pro account.Please do let us know. I'll check into this a little more on my own later. I'm curious.

  17.9.2008 11:33 #6

• ZippyDSM

  Lil by lil things are looking up!

  17.9.2008 11:42 #7

• ThePastor

  I like IMDB and all, and at first glance this sounds cool...
  But seriously, there is almost no selection.
  Why not just go straight to Hulu?
  What are they doing different other than making Amazon richer?

  17.9.2008 15:50 #8

• rtm27

  Well, turns out trying to find the videos on IMDBPro is very difficult. There isn't a link, as there is on the regular IMDB site. I got the same number of commercials and I was able to skip to the next segment....after watching the commercial. I checked to see what they offer, and at present, it's not that much. Since this is in the beta stage, maybe it will get better as time goes on. We will just have to wait and see.
  

  http://www.dvdspot.com/member=rtm27
  
  
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/673257

  17.9.2008 23:58 #9

• sKrEwZ

  At this point I am not real thrilled with it. Hopefully they make some changes soon that improve it overall.
  

  Sometimes a second chance is just the opportunity to kill something thats already injured.

  18.9.2008 12:00 #10

• res2cue

  once again... streaming not available in Canada

  20.9.2008 19:50 #11

• najime

  This video is not available in your country.
  
  thanks for nothing

  21.9.2008 08:19 #12

• 13thHouR

  Originally posted by najime: This video is not available in your country.
  
  thanks for nothingyep the royalties have not been decided in other countries yet. the MPAA are probably demanding ppl's souls to be able to show a 30sec clip.
  
  RIAA:
  
  # Sony BMG Music Entertainment
  # Universal Music Group
  # Warner Music Group
  # EMI
  
  MPAA:
  
  # The Walt Disney Company
  # Sony Pictures
  # Paramount Pictures Viacom—(DreamWorks owners since February 2006)
  # 20th Century Fox (News Corporation)
  # Universal Studios (NBC Universal)
  # Warner Bros. (Time Warner)

  21.9.2008 09:05 #13

• pablo39

  Thats sounds nice of IMDB to do that. I don't really watch shows or movies on the net but that may change a little. I use IMDB.com for looking up movies,actors, and critique.

  21.9.2008 17:08 #14