Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Free, Ad-Supported IMDb TV Streaming Service Launches Standalone Mobile Apps

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,482
37,742


IMDb has released standalone iPhone and iPad apps for its free, ad-supported TV streaming service, meaning users looking to access its video offerings no longer need go searching for it in the standard IMDb app.

imdb-tv.jpeg

IMDb TV offers viewers free access to a range of popular shows and movies, such as "Mad Men," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Wolf of Wall Street," and "How to Train Your Dragon." It also features originals from Amazon Studios, and the company says IMDb TV has half as many ads as traditional terrestrial TV.

The Amazon-owned subsidiary originally launched the free service as Freedive in January 2019, before renaming it IMDb TV. After first rolling out to Roku, IMDb TV apps were released in March for LG smart TVs, PlayStation 4, NVIDIA Shield, and TiVo Streak 4K. The IMDb TV app is also available on Amazon's Fire TV and as a free channel on the Prime Video app.

The launch of iOS and Android apps completes the platform rollout, and should allow the service to expand its U.S. mobile audience. A report last year suggested the company is planning to make the free service available globally, with Mexico and the U.K. possibly becoming the first regions to gain access, with more European countries and Latin America following suit.

(Via Variety.)

Article Link: Free, Ad-Supported IMDb TV Streaming Service Launches Standalone Mobile Apps
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/05/imdb-tv-launches-mobile-apps/
Just like bureaucracy, advertisement is a monster in mankind that is difficult to reduce. It always preys most aggressively on those who do not buy their way out, and get their heads dumped with 'info' garbage, 'always free'.
There are too many people who made money within advertisement or bureaucracy in the last generation.

I actually don't think an ad sales app should be a topic for Macrumors.
It's not a rumor, nor is it about Apple, not even a threat to Apple's entertainment market, where ad insertion never plays a role.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️, amartinez1660, wdog119 and 4 others
Doesn't matter how much content they have. I'm not interested in watching ad supported content. I don't know why so many people put up with it.

You can get unlimited ad free streaming for under $8 a month from at least one service. So, it won't have everything or that specific show or movie you want to watch. There'll be something else entertaining to watch.

It's mostly crap anyways. Even the good shows and movies are mostly idiotic. It's rare for something to be truly well made.

I just don't think anything is good enough to watch. To sit through ads. Even if it's a good movie. The ads break up the pace and ruin it.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: amartinez1660, tonyr6, Jovijoker and 5 others
velocityg4 said:
I just don't think anything is good enough to watch. To sit through ads. Even if it's a good movie. The ads break up the pace and ruin it.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. David Simon, who wrote HBO’s The Wire had a similar sentiment. Said commercials were “about the interruptions every 13 minutes to sell you cars and jeans and whatever else.”

Banksy wrote something similar, more inline with billboards and environmental advertising.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amartinez1660 and velocityg4
The field is a little too crowded and in all honesty, I think a site dedicated to documenting actor's filmography feels like a poor fit to suddenly provide shows/movies. I think they'll have some tough sledding against the heavy weights like netflix and disney+
 
maflynn said:
The field is a little too crowded and in all honesty, I think a site dedicated to documenting actor's filmography feels like a poor fit to suddenly provide shows/movies. I think they'll have some tough sledding against the heavy weights like netflix and disney+
Click to expand...
They try to brand as the cínebuff / film-nerd service of choice, but really the old Sundance channel was better at that. Again, too many ads.

I like a lot of variety in streams, but do agree that it is a crowded market dominated by the giants.

Id happily go back to the IMDB of 15-20 years ago as a companion for any serious film viewing. But not as a destination or starting point.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maflynn
I so detest this service, but it’s better that. What they’ve been doing with the bait and switch in prime video. Start watching an ad free show and then surprise, now its only available with a large number of ads. And no way to filter them out in the listings. Almost enough to get me to dump prime.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tonyr6, Just sayin..., velocityg4 and 1 other person
maflynn said:
The field is a little too crowded and in all honesty, I think a site dedicated to documenting actor's filmography feels like a poor fit to suddenly provide shows/movies. I think they'll have some tough sledding against the heavy weights like netflix and disney+
Click to expand...

It's owned by Amazon. It gets plenty of exposure and backing.

Originally intended as something to tick off Prime Video users. Into thinking a show or movie is included with Prime. When it's actually ad laden garbage IMDB channel. Which you can't disable or remove.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tonyr6, Just sayin..., EchoplexSE and 2 others
Heh. had this app on my Android TV and phone for a while now. Its also on Amazon Prime. Oh forgot Bezo owns it.
 
yaacov said:
So basically we went from commercial tv to cutting the cord, paying for commercial-free streaming and now we are circling back to advertising? anyone else find this hilarious?
Click to expand...
I do find it hilarious and depressing. But I don’t really watch much outside of livestreamers on YouTube and similar services these days, so I don’t find myself all that upset. I suggest that anyone in agreement with your observation simply stop watching. Kicking the ashcan over is much more liberating than cutting the cord was.
 
maflynn said:
I think a site dedicated to documenting actor's filmography feels like a poor fit to suddenly provide shows/movies.
Click to expand...
Such a site is a perfect place to provide content.

Let's say you're looking up info about an actor/actress and come across a film the person starred in that you weren't aware of. After reading a brief synopsis of and maybe even a few reviews for the film on IMDb, you find it interesting enough to watch the trailer also on IMDb.

You're now intrigued. But where to find it? Instead of wasting time searching all the increasingly fragmented streaming services to see who has it, IMDb has it right there for you.

What's a better and more logical place to offer direct and immediate access to shows and films than a huge database dedicated to providing info about them, the actors/actress that starred in them, and reviews for them?

Too bad they didn't get in on the subscription train early on like how Netflix did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amartinez1660
velocityg4 said:
Doesn't matter how much content they have. I'm not interested in watching ad supported content. I don't know why so many people put up with it.

You can get unlimited ad free streaming for under $8 a month from at least one service.
Click to expand...
Some people cannot afford to pay $8/mo here and $10/mo there and $10 there, so they put up with free services that serve ads. You may not like ads, but a growing number of people seem to be okay with it. Ad supported streaming services wouldn't exists if people didn't use them.

Some people do not have access to reliable high speed broadband so they deal with Over The Air (OTA) digital broadcast television and the ads that come with it.

I get the sense that some people here don't have the slightest clue about how some people across the U.S., let alone the world, live.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: amartinez1660, BugeyeSTI and Morgenland
I’ve watched a few movies and TV shows on it and the ad load is not as bad as “regular“ ad supportEd TV. I’ve even come across a few that had no ads or very few, usually early in the program.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amartinez1660
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back