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IMDb Launches Ad-Supported Movie Streaming Service (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the free-with-an-asterisk dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: IMDb is known as the place to go to look up details for any film under the sun, and now it's entering the streaming video arena. The company has launched Freedive, a free streaming platform that's supported by periodic ad breaks. The service's films and TV shows are available to registered IMDb or Amazon users and Amazon Fire TV owners. (The list of compatible devices is the same as the list for Prime Video.) Fire owners can navigate the service by way of a new icon in the "Your Apps & Channels" section or by telling their Amazon smart device, "Alexa, go to Freedive." The site says it will continually add new offerings to the site. The site will also indicate on a film's page if it's available on Freedive.

6 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. A movie that can stream movies! by Rockoon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Title currently is "MDb Launches Ad-Supported Movie Streaming Movie"

    They put streaming in your streaming!! Incredible.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
    1. Re:A movie that can stream movies! by SeaFox · · Score: 2

      Yo Dawg! I heard you like movies...

  2. US only, of course... by Tomahawk · · Score: 2

    "IMDb Freedive is only available to customers in the U.S. at this time."

    I don't see any mention on the website as to when it may be available outside of the US.

    Also, it doesn't support chromecast or apple tv, so that'll make it useless to a lot of people. Chances are most of them won't want an Amazon stick. Yes you can cast the screen of your phone to the TV, but that never works out well.

  3. NB by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 3, Informative

    Available only for US citizens (to be precise to US IP addresses). A full list of movies/series is here: https://www.imdb.com/freedive/

    Lastly, IMDB is an Amazon company.

  4. Why do I care about this? by sjbe · · Score: 3

    Frankly, I don't see why it took so long for this to be a thing. It's basically like viewing a movie on TV except the ads are more targeted.

    I'm confused. Are you somehow implying that is a good thing? Personally I prefer to watch movies without any ads at all much less targeted ones that still somehow manage to have no relevance to me.

  5. Not interesting by sjbe · · Score: 2

    this will live or die depending on how many ad interuptions there are and how they will be.

    If the number is greater than zero it is dead to me already.

    it looks that, for now at least, it's mostly older movies that have been made available. i quickly scrolled through the recommended lists, and there were no movies that i hadn't seen before, nothing recent from the last 5 years (or more).

    In other words, it's yet another shitty catalog of old movies that nobody really cares about anymore. How bored does one have to be to find something like that to be a worthwhile use of your time?